Chapter 4

Sitting in a secluded corner, each a beer in hand, Jon conveyed his whole rebirth into the vampire world. His friend sat deathly still, astounded at his friend’s bad luck, the beer forgotten in his hands. It could have been him! 

“That, Richie is the whole story, the rest you know. “

Taking a few breaths to settle his thoughts, he took a huge swig from the neck of the bottle.

“Does Dot know?”

“No and she is not going to find out. I can never go back to her or the kids.”

Pain painted his blue eyes a tinge darker.

“You cant just leave her, she won’t accept it like that my man.”

“I’ll use some new woman as an excuse, what if I can’t control myself? What if I feed from my kids? I could kill them..Rich I’ll never forgive myself! I cannot afford to feed from her either, she is the mother of my kids and as fucked up as I am, I still love the hell out of her!” His face disappeared in his hands.

“Ok..ok…shit! We have a major fuckup to work through!”  Richie took another gulp.

“Tell me…can you control this thirst of yours? Do you always have to kill or can you only feed from them?”

Jon sat back, folding his hands over his abs, his eyes trained on his friend.

“You asking for the girls, Dot and the kids’ or your own sake?” The self assured stranger was back.

“Fuck you Jon. I’m trying to help here ok? If you wanna play it like that…” he scraped his chair back but a steely grip held him fast.

“Sit down.”

A battle ensued between brown and blue. Blue won.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, both nurturing the beer neither of them even tasted. Their thoughts held them captive and it was when Jon’s bottle hit the table that Richie paid attention.

“Ok I was thinking….”

“I know what you were thinking. Let me clear this first. When this whole thing happened I made myself one promise, to never feed on my family, my friends or my crew. That’s a promise I vow to keep.”

Clear, truthful eyes  brought the message home.

“Fuck Jon. Don’t do that! My thoughts are private dammit!” Richie exclaimed, relief washed through him,  Jon may not be the same guy he knew, but he knew Jon would never break a promise!

“I can’t help it. It takes a lot of effort NOT to hear you, besides your idea is stupid. She will kill me if I tell her. She won’t understand! How the hell do I do it? Romantic dinner by candlelight, waiting for dessert telling her, oh by the way sweetheart, I’m a vampire. Don’t worry I won’t bite you I just fed on a waitress before you arrived.” Jon waggled his eyebrows.

Richie snorted, his shoulders shaking slightly.

“Its not a fucking joke you know! Don’t you see the danger in all this?!” Jon’s smile belied his serious voice.

It had been quite a while, relaxing with Rich like this. Knowing that Richie knew his dark secret took the burden off his shoulders somewhat, he could still see the wariness prowling in his dark eyes though, hear his rushed thoughts, heard the silent struggle of his dear friend to accept him as he was.

“She will understand Jon, she is a strong woman. Give her the benefit of the doubt bro’.”

Jon shook his head.

“I cannot take the change Rich, I just can’t. We are still in the early part of the tour, I need the time to make up my mind and maybe learn some restraint over this feeding thing. Then and only then I’ll approach her with this.”

“What about the guys? Do we tell them? Obie, Tic, Joker?”

He shook his head.

Leaning back he watched Jon silently.

“Ok help me out here….can you walk in daylight? Eat garlic? Mirrors? Interviews? Eat food? “

“FUCK OK!!” Jon gritted through his teeth.

“Daylight I don’t know. I’m too shit scared to try it. Garlic and crosses are a crock of shit. Mirrors…no I can’t do mirrors. The interviews will have to happen at night, I’m the boss, what I say goes. Food? Yeah I can eat it, its like chewing cardboard but I can keep a straight face. Anything else?”

Jon knew the questions before it was uttered. He sighed, apparently bored by all this.

“Twice a day….and no I don’t kill everyone. A few survived and no they aren’t vampires. I didn’t share my blood with them. I doubt if they remember it though. I apparently have some sort of “gift”, if you can call it that, that could make them forget the feeding ever happened. ”

Richie was gawking.

“Twice a damn day!!!!!!!! You gonna kill the whole human race in a few years!”

“ I don’t NEED to feed twice a day. I just feel like it.” Jon grinned.

Richie’s frown said it all.

“That’s a bit selfish, don’t you think? You are like a druggie my friend, you need to get this thing under control before it gets to you.”

Blue eyes turned to shards of ice.

“I’m fucking trying, all this shit doesn’t come with a DIY manual. You have to gain experience as you go.”

“And the bitch that bit you? Where is she?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care seeing her again. She gave me a few do’s and don’ts and that was it.”

“Brilliant. Another beer?”

Jon pulled a face.

“Some red wine, at least it tastes nicer.”

Richie ordered another round, his heart squeezing in fear as he saw a couple of girls making their way to their table.

I’ve already fed twice tonight, hold onto your pants cowboy. They are safe, but I could do with another good screw.

Jon chuckled at Richie’s bulging eyes.

Didn’t know I could do this too, did ya?

It didn’t take Richie long to snap back.

Fuck you Jonny boy, get outta my head…. and I’m taking the blonde.

Richie rolled his eyes at Jon, displaying perfect pearlies just as the young women reached their table.