FicWad

Pete took fast shallow breaths as William Beckett smirked at him. With each breath, it seemed as if the arc of vampires that made up Beckett’s coven closed in on him by one more step. Surrounded, it seemed to Pete that he would be unlikely to escape and the absolute certainty of that fact on Beckett’s face only seemed to confirm his fears all the more. The line of Beckett’s vampires closed on one side forcing Pete to his right. Backing up, much to Beckett’s amusement, Pete found himself pressed up against the wall with no escape route.

“Are you ready to give yourself up, Peter?” Beckett asked smoothly. “If you do, I promise…”
“Whatever you’re about to say, save it, Beckett! You know, as well as I do, that you’re lying!” Pete snapped angrily.

Beckett frowned irritably at the accusation. “Michael, fetch some chains, the strongest we have; I want him locked up nice and tight. And gentlemen…” Beckett addressed the remaining vampires. Sweeping his arms from the side, palms up, he drew them close to point in Pete’s direction. “He’s all yours!”

Rushed at once by all twelve vampires, Pete was swamped. Blow after blow rained down on him, all attempts to stave off the attack were blocked and countered. Dragged from his position against the wall to the middle of the entrance hall, Pete was helpless against them; twenty-four fists and feet battling against his two. Landing a few well-timed punches, Pete was able to fend off two of his attackers, but the sheer volume of blows he received was winning out and Pete soon found himself beaten to his knees. Aching, bruised and bleeding from the vicious attack, and now held securely, his arms twisted high up his back and his legs pinned to the floor, Pete had little choice but to give up.

His shoulders sagged with helpless frustration as he heard Beckett laughing at him. He knew trying to escape like that would be a risk, but at least the others were safe, as was Andrea. He had achieved his main task. Hearing the clink of chains being brought into the hall, he knew this was the start of his torture and eventual slow death. He knew Beckett planned to re-capture his friends and turn them to make him suffer, but it did reassure him about one thing, at least, Beckett was unaware that he had already turned Patrick. Patrick? Of course!

Heavy manacles were secured around his wrists and ankles, other chains linking the two sets of manacles and another fastened tightly around his upper arms. Pete was barely able to move.

“Take him to the dungeon and bring me the keys.”

*

“Joe, will you please stop the car!” Andrea begged.
“Not until we get home, and you’re safe,” Joe replied, his knuckles white from the tight grip he had maintained on the wheel and his eyes fixed, wide, unblinking on the road ahead.
“How am I more safe there than anywhere else?” Andrea asked frustrated by Joe ignoring her pleas.
“It’s where we live, vampires can’t enter a human dwelling without an invitation, which they won’t get.”
“Except Pete,” she corrected.
“Yeah,” Joe sighed. “And Patrick.”
“Patrick’s not a vampire,” Andrea turned a confused expression to Joe. “Is he? You said he made the shakes for Pete, you didn’t say…”
“It just happened,” Joe interrupted.
“Just?” Andrea raised an eyebrow. “The night he was captured?”
Joe cleared his throat, feeling awkward questions coming on. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Joe?” Andrea pushed sensing his discomfort.
“Look, I’ve answered all your questions, how can you accuse me of keeping something from you?”
“It’s the questions I haven’t asked though, isn’t it?”
“Oh, that’s not fair!” Joe played for time. “You’re accusing me of keeping things from you on the basis that I’m not answering stuff you haven’t asked?”
“Who turned him?”

Joe’s shoulders sagged as she asked the question he dreaded, but even so, he intended to skim over the facts.

“Patrick was drained at Beckett’s. When we escaped, he was going to die, so Pete turned him. He had to.”
“I’m sorry,” Andrea reacted to the slight catch she heard in Joe’s throat as he spoke.
“One more thing,” she pushed, unsure why, but she felt a connection between two vital pieces of information she had been told. “Pete said it was his fault you had to leave me there. What did he mean?”

With a heavy sigh, Joe finally brought the car to a halt.

“You have no idea how hard that was for me, leaving you there like that.”
“Yes I do!” Andrea snapped back. “I begged you half the way here to go back to help Pete and you wouldn’t.”

Joe turned distressed eyes towards Andrea; did she have feelings for Pete? He hadn’t told her how he felt, but he hoped that there was some spark between them. Of course not. Why would there be? Pete was handsome and had saved her life, twice. He also had the sexy vampire thing going on. What did he, Joe, have to offer her?

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I just wanted to get you away from there, I wanted you to be safe from them.”
“Is… is that all?” she asked with a frown. His first statement had been one of personal unhappiness, while his second seemed almost clinical.
Joe sighed, looking back down at the steering wheel. “All? Isn’t that enough?”
“I… I guess so.”
“I better get you back to the warehouse,” Joe muttered as he pulled out into traffic once more.
“Joe?” Andrea began tentatively.
“What?” he replied miserably, as he thought about how his world had suddenly crumbled around him.
“You seem unhappy… suddenly. Was it something I said?”

Yes! Yes it was! You love Pete! And he doesn’t deserve you! No, that’s unfair, he does, but so do I! Don’t I? How can you not see how I feel about you? Or maybe you do and Pete’s just an excuse so I won’t say anything to you? I’m just kidding myself to think that you could like me.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong. You’re right, once you’re safe, I’ll go back and get Pete.”
“You’re not going on your own!” Andrea insisted.
“You’re not going!” Joe turned a worried glance to her. “You’re never going near that place again!”
“Don’t tell me what to do, Joe Trohman! If you’re going back there, then so am I!”

Joe slammed on the brakes suddenly, bringing the car to a violent halt throwing the pair forward a few inches in their seats.

“Look, I don’t care how you feel about Pete, but I can’t let you risk your life over him, I… I… care about you too much. And I know you love Pete, but… I can’t help it… I…”

Turning in her seat, Andrea placed a hand on Joe’s left cheek, gasping as she felt it was damp. Gently turning his head to face her, Andrea smiled at his pained expression.

“I don’t love Pete,” she explained before leaning closer.

It took a moment for her words and actions to register, but finally, Joe’s eyes lit up with unbridled happiness.

“You mean…?”

Sliding her hand behind his neck, Andrea pulled Joe towards her into a tender kiss. Now reaching up, Joe slid one arm around her waist and caressed her cheek with the other. Sinking deeper into the kiss, it would have been easy for the pair to be lost in the moment, but they both knew there was still so much to do. Only a few minutes from the warehouse, they were unaware that there was more wrong than they could possibly have realised.

Pulling back slowly out of the kiss, Andrea smiled broadly at Joe.

“You’re good,” she said brushing his cheek lightly with her fingertips. “But,” she continued with a regretful frown, “we have things to do.”
“I’ll get you to the warehouse,” Joe nodded with a wide grin.

*

Patrick was getting better at deciphering Pete’s messages, but he wished, above all, that he would slow down when sending them. They didn’t hurt any more, but they still came through in a garbled rush of noise. Although, Patrick reflected, the situation Pete was in, if he had spoken the message, it would probably have sounded much the same. They key words that kept flooding his mind over and over weren’t Pete’s location in the dungeon, or even the fact that he was held in chains, but the simple phrase – ‘Patrick! Help me!’. Pete was afraid. Part of what Patrick sensed was Pete’s fear for the malevolence that Beckett held for his friends. Yes, they had escaped this time, but he wasn’t going to let them win so easily. Pete would be made to suffer via the capture, torture and turning of his friends. Another pleading message came through explaining that Beckett himself was on his way to torture him.

“Oh, I’m on my way, but someone’s in for a very big surprise,” he chuckled to himself.

*

Andy opened his eyes slowly. A combination of the searing pain in his head and the bright lights of the bedroom conspired against him; he felt nauseous. Bile rose in his throat and there was no doubt in his mind that he would have to reach a bathroom quickly. Rolling off the bed, Andy staggered, almost falling to his knees as his right hand went to his throbbing forehead. One more step caused the chain around his left wrist to start pulling him back. Turning confused, bleary eyes, Andy realised he was chained to the bed. Fumbling in his pocket revealed only that he didn’t have the key. His eyes were misting with the pain in his head, the room was spinning, swirling in and out of focus. Collapsing to his knees, he had no choice but to empty the contents of his stomach where he fell. Coughing and retching, Andy’s eyes watered at the pain of the action. All he could think of was how all those pained muscles were never designed to work in reverse. Finally pushing himself backwards away from the foul acrid smell, Andy clawed his way back to the bed wishing he could will away the pounding behind his eyes.

“Andy?”

Andy, still slumped on the floor but leaning against the bed, heard Joe’s call, but found himself still too disorientated and weak to respond. Pulling half-heartedly on the chains, he sighed his frustration as it was all he could manage.

“Andy?” Joe called again.

Pushing the door to Patrick’s room open, Joe ran forward as he saw his friend, slumped over, leaning awkwardly against the bed. Rushing to his side, Joe lifted Andy’s head gently noticing that his eyes were unfocussed.

“How did this happen? Who did this to you?” he asked noticing that Andy’s wrist was chained to the bed.

Having left as soon as Joe ran into the room, Andrea returned with a glass of water and passed it to Joe.

“Here,” Joe encouraged him to sip it as he held the glass to Andy’s lips. “Where’s Patrick?”
“Escaped,” Andy explained. “He got a message from Pete asking for help. I was going to go after Pete, but Patrick wanted me to release him so he could come too. I didn’t know what to do. I got a stake out of the draw, you know, just in case I did need to defend myself and I was just about to free him when he attacked me.”
“I’m gonna get your doctor friend, Simon, to look at you,” Joe nodded solemnly as he helped Andy back onto the bed. “I’m going back for Pete.”
Andy sighed with relief at the comfort of the bed before replying. “No, Joe, you need to rest.”
“I’m fine,” Joe insisted.
“No, you’re not!” Andrea pressed a hand against his chest.
“You want me to leave him there?” Joe asked incredulous.
“No, but Andy needs you and… so do I. Please, Joe, at least get some rest.”

It was true, Joe was exhausted and Andy needed to be watched. Patrick had used unnecessary force on him. But could that have been because he wasn’t used to his own strength? Regardless of the reason, Andy was in need of a friend to look after him.

“I need to clean up in here. Where’s your stuff?” Andrea asked.

Joe smiled, grateful for her practical help and good sense. Placing a gentle kiss on her cheek, he smiled thankfully at her.

“I’ll show you.”