FicWad

“Why are you in my room?!” Shouted Frank from where he was being cradled by Gerard.

“Why are you naked?!” Retorted the young man.

A tidal wave of red washed over Frank’s cheeks as he pressed himself further into Gerard’s protective embrace, trying to pull the covers up to hide his embarrassment. Tightening his grip on his lover, Gerard glared hatefully toward the intruder. A tense silence fell over the room.

The stranger straightened his back and crossed his arms over his chest, the sleeves crumpling around and cascading over his forearms. Narrowing his eyes, he studied the two boys before him.

“Well,” he breathed out, sniffing slightly and then looking towards the wall. “I can see I’m not welcome here, despite being on terribly important business. Really, how rude.”

Frank frowned, and poked his head above the covers long enough to say, “I don’t see what business you have in my bedroom!”

Eyes widened in shock, the handsome man whipped his head back round to stare at Frank, his hair swishing around his shoulders. “Why, business concerning the gravest of all matters.” Adopting a slightly more solemn tone of voice he added, “This is a case of life and death.”

Sighing loudly, Frank let the covers fall down to his waist, and, working himself into a grump, grumbled, “Well isn’t that just peachy-pie Gee? I guess that means it concerns us, oh how lucky we are.”

A sudden sombre expression befell the dark-haired stranger’s dainty features. His voice softened in tone, resembling that of an aged man who had lived too long and seen too much to have much joy left in him. Pinning Frank with a steely gaze, he uttered;

“It concerns you, Frank, your life, and your death.”

O-O-O

Frank wasn’t hungry the morning after; it seemed that something about facing your impending doom didn’t really sit well with his stomach. Gerard meanwhile wouldn’t leave him alone for longer than two seconds, for fear of ‘something dreadful’ happening to his ‘precious baby’. So the pancakes that Frank’s doting mother had so lovingly cooked up for him were gone to waste; picked at round the edges and pushed all around Frank’s plate.

What the stranger had told them last night had rattled Frank to the core. The dark haired man had begun by explaining that his name was Endesha, and that he was a Vita Rex. This hadn’t gone down too well, what with the ‘you’re going to die’ swirling around Frank’s head coupled with the potential-threat-to-life standing in the middle of his bedroom with a dopey grin on his face, as Frank got the sudden I-don’t-want-to-die-with-no-clothes-on feeling and promptly started to scream. Thankfully, Gerard had been at hand to quiet the cries of ‘monster, monster, we’re all gonna die’ from Frank.

Endesha then cleared up the matter by explaining to Frank what the Vita Rex really are.

“It loosely translates as ‘Kings of Life’, and I do mean very loosely, and that’s basically our job description.” He paused to smile sweetly at the couple. “By possessing the overwhelming power to control life and death we can safely ensure that everyone passes down the road of death in a safe and natural way.”

“Sounds like he’s quoting from the brochure.” Remarked Gerard, followed by a smack on the arm from Frank and a ‘He could kill us, fool!’

Clearing his throat, Endesha continued. “When we find out that there is a disturbance to the natural flow of death, we pinpoint and eradicate the cause. This is where you and your dead medium friend come in...”

“Wait,” Frank interjected, “you said ‘dead medium friend’, I don’t know any dead mediums.”

Blinking dumbly, Endesha scratched his head. “She calls herself Julietta; I have got the right person haven’t I?”

“Yeah that’s my tutor, but she’s a mediator, isn’t she?” Frank queried.

“Oh, no, gosh no.” Endesha shook his head rapidly. “If she were a mediator she wouldn’t have any reason to pull a stunt like this. She’s one of a band of renegades, all dead mediums, who are desperate to gain more power in the realm of the dead by becoming mediators. They’ve been watching you Frank, and they want your power.”

Frank slipped back limply into Gerard’s arms, overwhelmed by the betrayal of his tutor. Clutching his boyfriend to his chest, Gerard fixed Endesha with a searching gaze.

“How would they manage to steal his powers, is that even possible?”

Clearing his throat, Endesha continued to explain. “There are many levels to magic that can be performed, much of that from the highest levels is too terrible to ever be mentioned, but step below that, you have the spells that are still morally unsound, but reliant on whether there is someone willing to make the sacrifice. This is the sort of spell Julietta plans to cast, she will trap you, kill you, and as you are dying, she will draw out your soul and eat it.”
Frank visibly paled, then went slightly purple as Gerard squeezed him a little too tight.

“This of course is a rather crude method; only Demons like myself are able to make a clean job of it. I’m here to stop Julietta from stealing your powers, and thus wreaking havoc on the world during her endless quest for power.” A sickly sweet smile pinned itself to Endesha’s face, irritating Gerard beyond belief.

“How can you be so casual and all happy-peachy-pie?! This is life we’re talking about, Frankie’s life!” He spluttered out. The demon before him slowly dropped the hideously cute expression from his face, morphing it into a faintly shocked confusion. He reached a hand up to scratch lightly at the back of his neck, frowning at the adorably protective ghost who dared challenge his authority. Resting both his hands on his hips, Endesha let out a light breath.

“What makes you believe that the value of one boy’s life outweighs the freedom of every other being in existence? Because that is what’s at stake.”

Sticking out his bottom lip in an angry pout, Gerard bunched up his fists, ready to hit the dark-haired demon square in the jaw. Sensing Gerard’s fury, Frank quickly took hold of his boyfriend’s wrist.

“Gee, you need to calm down; go run round the block to blow off some steam, ’kay?”

Gerard ‘harrumphed’ but did as he was told, rising from the bed his clothes seamlessly materialised back in time to cover his body. Once he was out of sight and ear shot, Frank turned to Endesha, nervously biting his lip.

“You know you said you were capable of all kinds of terrible, immoral things?”
The demon only nodded.

Frank took a deep breath, “How might I bring Gerard back to life?”

Endesha blinked, once, twice. “You’ll need a human sacrifice, and a separate fresh body, his original one is probably far too rotted to be a suitable container for his soul; put him in that and he’ll turn into a mindless corpse, hunting others down in search of a fresh body, turning them into walking corpses in the process.” He answered, devoid of any emotion. “That’s how most zombie invasions start; it’s a domino effect and a bloody nightmare to sort out.” He added.

“Oh.” Frank stared down at his hands, disheartened.

“But...” Endesha started.

Frank’s heard flew up, his large hazel eyes gazing up at the demon, searching for any shred of hope.

“But?”

Endesha hesitated before continuing, his usual happy-go-lucky attitude completely dispersed.

“I think I know a way to achieve what I think you’re aiming for, an old spell that’s not exactly legal anymore; I can’t tell you what it does until you decide whether or not you’ll go through with it.”

Frank frowned, “Why’s that?”

“It has a drawback.”

“What drawback?”

The dark haired Demon hesitated again, shuffling his feet slightly.

“You have to give yourself as the sacrifice.”

An eerie silence fell over the room, both of them staring at the other intently. Endesha continued slowly.

“I have to perform the spell whilst you die, if I miss-time it, the spell won’t work and you die for nothing.”

Closing his eyes, Frank inhaled and exhaled deeply. A minute or so passed, and then he reopened his eyes.

“What exactly is the outcome?”