FicWad

His senses began to flood back to him, dragging themselves from the darkness. Whereever he was, it was bright; He could see a white light streaming through his closed lids. Many noises and voices came to his attention next. He recognised one of them, but his brain was still foggy and could not seem to place who it was. He tried to move his finger and was glad to find that he could.

"Look!", that same familiar voice called, "He just moved", the voice sounded joyous and relived.

He was now aware that somebody was standing over him. Very slowly, he peeled open his stiff eyelids. The world wasblurred, but seconds by second, blink by blink, it began to focus. There, standing over him, was the beaming, bearded face of Tomo Milicevic.

"Shannon! Oh thank god!", He grinned, "I thought we'd lost you for a moment"

Dazed and confused Shannon sat up slowly. He peered round his surroundings. He was in a hospital room. In front of him he could see a busy corridor through the glass-walled door. A monitor beeped rhythmically next to him and IV tubes were connected to his hand.

"Wha- what happened?", He croaked, his voice crackling from lack of use, "Why am I here?"

"Actually, Shann, we were hoping you could explain what happend", Tomo's brows were slightly furrowed, "You didn't come back to my house like you said so I went to check over at your house. You were unconscious in your car. I couldn't wake you up so I called an ambulance... and you haven't woken up since",

"Ho-How long ago was that?... How long have I been unconscious for?", He asked curiously. Tomo didn't reply, but bit his lips tighter together, "Tomo... How long?",

"A few days now...",

"What! A few days! How?",

"The doctors were baffled, they found a small puncture mark, from a needle, on your neck and they did some blood tests... You were drugged - they're still identifying the drug. Everyone is saying that they've never know a drug to last this long... I mean, I found you on Friday -"

"and the day today is?",

"... Tuesday",

Shannon was stunned, he'd been unconscious for nearly five days. He closed his eyes, straining to rememberwhat had happened. Broken flashes of the warehouse and mysterious stranger whirled in his brain.

A doctor had come over to examine him. Seemingly convinced that Shannon was now in good health he told Shannon that he could leave tomorrow. Shannon had to stay overnight just to make sure, and they should havefinished testing the unknown substance in his system by the following day... Maybe then he would get some answers.

The room was now empty save for Tomo and Shannon.

"Is there any news on Jared?", Shannon asked the question he had been burning to know the answer to since regaining conciseness.

"I was hoping you'd know something...", Tomo replied with an awkward look, "I've heard nothing... sorry... what about you?"

Shannon sighed. Friday morning's events were now clear in his mind, but he was rather hoping that they had been created in his unconscious state like a dream. He doubted that Tomo would beleive, he wasn't even sure if he beleived.

"Well...I - There was a man, called...", He paused as he struggled to remember his name, "Cameron... or Cerian... Caspian! He was called Caspian -"

"Was this who called you?", Tomo asked with interest

"Must have been. His voice was similar. It was weir, that warehouse... eerie, like",

Shannon began to recall what had happened, the conversation that he had had. He paused and took a deep breath before telling Tomo about what Caspian had said about Vampires.

"And then someone just put their hands on my neck... and that's all I can remember..."

"Vampires?", Tomo used the same tone that Shannon had back in The Den," Seriously... That creep expected you to believe that!... Please tell me you don't beleive it, Shann.",

Tomo's deep brown eyes looked in to Shannon's hazel. Shannon blinked and looked away. He didn't know what to think.

"I don't know Tome... I guess it would explain Jared's -",

"- No! it wouldn't Shann! It wouldn't explain anything!", Tomo said incredulously, "The guy is a nut job! He's probably holding Jared hostage for a ransom... or - or - ... something! How could you beleive? - VAMPIRES!"

"Shhh!", Shannon hushed his friend as a nurse had just entered the room.

"You two can go down for lunch if you like", She smiled before leaving.

"There we go! Your hunger deprived. Delirious! Get some food down you and you'll see this as it is... nonsense!", Tomo finished with a satisfied nod. He then saw the slightly hurt look in Shannon's eyes and sighed, "Shann... I'm sorry, it's just... Vampires... don't exist...he was having you on", his voice was soft and apologetic.

Shannon nodded before following Tomo down to the Hospital Canteen. Maybe Tomo was right. Caspian was just messing with him. Surely Caspian had no idea where Jared was. The idea that his brother was a vampire seemed almost laughable to Shannon now.


XxX

"Leto...",

He saw a thin beam of light escape through the partially open door. Growing lager and larger until the silhouette of a man obstructed it, before walked forward towards the huddled shape in the corner of the room. He carriedsomething in his hands.

Jared looked up through his bloodshot, blue eyes as the youthful looking man passed him a loaf of bread.

"I guessed that you weren't going to eat that", he smiled jerking his head towards a beef-steak at the wall furthest away from Jared.

Jared gave a small, grateful smile before taking the food. The blonde haired vampire turned and was about to exit the small room when:

"Help me!", Jared cried out his eyes burning, "Please, I - I - I've done things... terrible things... I'm a... monster!"

The other Vampire, Dustin, looked at him with pity

"It's not your fault Jared, no one can control themselves when they first turn"

"Then why am I locked up in here? I'm the only one here"

"You're different", Dustin sighed, "I guess... I'm sorry, I don't know why... neither does Caspian... that's why you're here."

"You have to turn me back! Please! I hate what I am now... I can see their faces when I close my eyes, pleading with me to stop... but I don't, I just carry on... Please, you have to help me! There must be s-something", His voice broke with the effort of controlling himself. He gave a stifled cry of anguish before tears streamed down his pallid face.

"I-I'm sorry, Jared, there's no cure...", Dustin looked on with pity at the pathetic sight of Jared sobbing on the stone floor. He sighed and decided to tell Jared what he had come to say: "Caspian has spoken with your brother",

Jared's head shot up, both hope and fear shining in his bloodshot eyes.

"R-really? Is he okay?",

"He's fine... of course he did not truly believe -",

Jared's face flashed with anger

"Why didn't Caspian bring him here? He promised! Promised that I could see Shannon... where is he now?",

"I know, but Caspian decided it was too dangerous... I mean, your still uncontrollable. You could hurt-",

"-He's my brother! I would never hurt him... I wouldn't hurt anyone", He then realised the truth: He had hurt people, true, he had no control of it, but that was the problem. He couldn't see his brother... He couldn't see anyone.

Dustin gave a small and knowing smile. He had gone through exactly the same thing when he had first he had been able to control himself far better. Maybe it was Jared's energy and spirit that made Jared such a reckless 'newbie'. He had seen Jared perform in his band; the fire inside the blue eyes.

"Your brother's home now, he's safe. Caspian sent his hound to keep an eye out on him..."

With that he walked from the room, locking the door behind him.

He was left alone, in the cold and dark, alone to contemplate everything that the younger vampire had told him.

Jared sighed before taking a nibble of the bread he had been given. He was suprisingly hungry. Once he had eaten his fill he lent back against the dark and cold stonewall. Closing his eyes he thought back to how he was here, the night that had changed everything.

XxX

Sunday evening - 10 days previous

A smile Shone bright in Jared's eyes. He glanced down at his note pad, at the scribbled beginnings of a brand new song. He closed his eyes and breathed, content. He was up on the mountain by Griffin park, L.A. Spreading his arms he gave a small whoop of joy, he had always felt so alive up here. Unable to wait any longer to show his brother his ideas he got up and walked backdown the mountain.

He was barely halfway down when he passed the old industrial estate, a lone warehouse stood out, ugly against the lush green trees. He usually paid little attention to it. This time though, something caught his eye.

Someone was being forced through an iron door leading into the warehouse by three other figures. Jared watched the struggle with curiosity. Even from a distance Jared deduced that those trying to push the one through the door were male. The other, judging by the pitch of the screams, was a woman. Anger welled in Jared as he raced down to the warehouse desperate to help the poor girl,who was a great deal smaller than her attackers. He had barely left the dirt track when the door slammed shut behind the struggling party with a resounding, metallic thud. Undetered Jared reached the door and wrenched it open.

He caught only a fleeting glimpse of the flame haired women being dragged into the depths of the building, for the moment he crossed the foreboding threshold a blinding pain exploded through his head and he dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The next Jared knew he was sitting on cold stone, chained with his arms above his head to the wall behind his back. His head throbbed with pain. He would have nursed the burning lump where he had been hit if his arms were free.

"Ah, Mr. Leto, glad you could join us", A sneering voice came from the darkness. Jared looked up to see a shadowy man standing over him, "We've been awaiting you for quite some time, pretty boy, haven't we?" The man turned to address the two figures standing behind him. They erupted in raucous jeers of approval.

"Where am I? Who are you? What do you want?", Jared did his best to make his voiceauthoritative and demanding. However, he was chained in a room full of strangers with unknown capabilities.

"I really doubt you're in a position to ask questions Mr. Leto... However. now that you ask, I would like you to stop making that awful noise you call singing, however", Jared growled at the man as laughter rang through the room, "That is not why you are here...You are here to help us"

"well, if it's all the same with you I don't really think I'll be helping you. Now let me go!", Jared snarled

"Oh, don't worry, we will let you go... but first-", He snapped his fingers, causing the other two men to leave the room. They returned dragging a figure, held by two on either side towards Jared, or rather it dragged the two who were trying to control holding it.

Jared gasped as he recognised the middle figure as, not only the women he had come to the warehouse to help, but asHayley Williams, the singer of 'Paramore'. But she was not how Jared remembered her on their last meeting: Her orange hair was bushy and unkept, her eyes were black and cold, her mouth was held in a cruel snarl that flashed with long white teeth.

Jared backed away as far as he could against the wall, drawing his legs against his body as though to shield him from her.

"Hayley... Hayley!... It's me! Jared!... Hayley... No!... Please!", He cried out as she placed a hand roughly on his face, pushing it up to expose his sweating, thin neck.

"Sorry, Leto, I must rush, it's been nice talking to you", he grinned before leaving the room.

Jared's screams were futile as white teeth pierced his neck. Nothingness threatened to consume him as his blood was draining from his small body. On the verge of death a stone goblet was placed to his pale lips. His head was tilted back as he was forced to drink the scarlet liquid.

Rage and Pain were all that Jared could remember as he was left unchained in the room.

Before he knew it he had flown from the room, throwing away anyone in his path, and ran from the warehouse in search of blood. His conscience had been pushed into a small corner, beaten, as the beast took over him.

And he returned, after having taken a human life and quenched his thirst, to himself. Shaking and sobbing as he realised his actions of that night. He went to the only place he felt safe; his room. He leapt to the sill with ease due to his new-found abilities and pulled open the window for him to climb through. Locking the door, blocking himselffrom his brother whom he could not face to see, he sat in his room. Consumed with grief and anguish as he stared at his blood soaked clothes and hands.

Night would fall... and the hunter returned.

This occurred for four nights. By the fifth night he had regained some control. It took all his energy, but throughfighting he broke through. He was on a rooftop, somewhere in L.A, in the middle of the night. The creature inside had been subdued for the time being. He was doing all he could to hold on to himself. It was when a young girl cut her foot on a fragment of broken bottle did he lose. The beast roared at the scent of blood and Jared fell off theprecipice he had been clinging onto.

He ran, ran through the alley way, still posesed with cruelty. He ran for what seemed an age through the thinlabyrinth created by the cities buildings. Then, he was thrown to the ground, hard, as a heavy net enveloped his body. The rope Became more and more entwined in his flailing limbs. He roared, snarling at his captives who only stared down at his struggling body, laughing. A dog grinned above Jared's twisted face as though sharing in the men's glee. One of the men lifted a gun, pointing it at Jared's thigh. He pulled the trigger. It had shot, not a bullet, but a dart. Jared's eyelids began to droop. The drug subduing the raging vamparic monster inside him and once again he fell unconscious at the hands of 'the Den's' dwellers.

XxX

The ice blue eyes flew open as Jared returned to the present day, to the room in which he has been imprisoned since his latest capture. Jared opened his mouth and tentatively examined his teeth with his hands. They were theirususal, normal shape and size. Confusion enveloped him. He had always imagined vampires to remain so perminatly. Yet, he had not lost himself since he had killed the girl in the alley-way. And what had Dustin meant by 'you're different'.

He was dragged from his musing as the door opened again. A young girl was pushed through the door before it was slammed shut. Jared scrambled away from her, backing away as far as he could, for he recognised her face, her hair. Hayley Williams. He began to calm down when she did not attack and that the cold and malice had gone from her green eyes.

"Jared!", She called beaming as she approached his figure and sat down next to him, her face fell, "I-I'm sorry...",

"It's fine", He laughed, "You just scared me a bit when you came in. I understand though... I've done things too..."

She gave him a sad smile. They looked at each other for a few minutes. As though fascinated by their new condition

"So... your a-",

"Vampire... yeah, I guess", He laughed

"I was worried I'd... Killed you", She admitted.

"Nah, take more than that", He smirked with false bravado, "I think I drank your blood... that's what happens in vampire mythology isn't it? If you drink the blood of the Vampire that drank yours, then your become one... I think."

She nodded,

"It seems that way... I mean. It was one of the dweebs working here who turned me. They must be vampires as well. The Bastards hit me round the head as I walked back from the studio!"

"What were you doing being dragged in her that day anyway?"

"Bringing me here. My studio's in Franklin. They must've loaded me in the van and turned me in there. Where are we now then? What city?",

"You didn't notice the gigantic sign saying 'Hollywood' then?", Jared chuckled. Hayley punched him jokingly on the arm

"Oi, Mr. Sarcastic! I was a bit preoccupied with the men - vampires or whatever - dragging me... besides I was blindfolded, in case you didn't notice",

"Nope, I was busy as well, trying to save your cute little ass... and then you bite me... Thanks!", They were both laughing now.

"So we've in L.A?", She asked when they're giggles had subsided.

"Yep, greatest place in the world!", he said proudly, thumping the spot over his heart with his first patriotically.

"I thought you say that about everywhere you play at", her eyebrows were raised sceptically, "didn't you say it about Wales once?"

"Hey! have you seen some of those Welsh people when they're drunk? I wasn't about to mess with them!",

It was a while before they spoke again. Smiles still etched on their pale faces and their eyes unfocused. Hayley keptglancing around the room, taking in her surroundings or perhaps looking for means of escape.

"It's just... mad isn't it... Everything. I just wonder if it's all a dream, all a nightmare...",

"I know what you mean", Jared replied, placing a hand on her knee. He softly sang one of his songs in a whisper: 'Your defences were on high, your wall built deep inside...'

"Why are we hear Jay? Why us? Is he targeting musicians or something?"

"Ha, yeah, they're building up an army bloodsucking rock stars",

"But why?"

"I dunno... destroy Justin Beiber?... I was joking!", He threw his arms up as she hit him again.

"Seriously now Jay! We kneed to get out of here, find out what's going on and...",

"But, we're still what we are - vampires... obviously we can't live normal lives", He looked at her sadly

"We've learned to control ourselves though, it's been a week.",

"Huh?"

"Dustin told me that vampires run riot for the first week or so and then calm down",

"Who is Dustin anyway?"

"Like us I guess. He told me that he was turned when he was young. Caspian keeps him to deal with anyone held here...",

"but he told me that I was different. That I was more ferocious than most... Why is that? They said that they couldn't control me. So they brought me here",

"But Caspian usually lets the new vampire out on the street... Just not us. You escaped though didn't you?"

Jared nodded

"and now I need to do it again!"