Chapter Text
Ray had been aware of Gerard’s thing for a while now. He’d have to be blind not to see it, as it was almost literally written across the walls. One look into Gerard’s room–his workspace, even–and you would see it too. You would see the thing Gerard thought he was so subtle about, but in reality, was quite the opposite. If you bothered to look at the tacked-up loose-leaf papers across Gerard’s walls, the pieces would fall into place easily.
Ray figured it out about a month after he and Gerard moved in together, sheer oblivion delaying the discovery. He’d knocked over a moving box Gerard hadn’t gotten around to unpacking yet and out fell a handful of dictionary-sized textbooks, each retaining some form of “vampire” in their title, as well as a handful of glittering rosaries. It only clicked as Ray remembered Gerard’s seemingly sudden religious after moving from their hometown. He thought about it, staring at the pile.
Gerard had come out to check on the commotion and stopped after recognizing the mess on the floor.
“Oh”, was what Gerard had said to break the silence. “That’s kind of embarrassing.”
“What’s it mean?” Ray questioned. It was pretty apparent, but he’d be smarter to ask.
Gerard got to his knees and slowly tucked the items into his arms. “Um. Don’t laugh?”
The sincerity of the request caught Ray by surprise, but he made sure to nod comfortingly. The two of them had seen each other go through chaos and the lows of life–nothing could have changed that.
“Never.”
Gerard sucked in a lip. “I… um…” He uttered the next part so softly that Ray had to ask for him to repeat it twice. “Fuck, Ray, I believe in fucking vampires, okay?” An odd silence fell as Ray was completely at a loss for words. “It’s whatever. Just a dumb hobby. It- it inspires me and shit, okay?”
“Okay,” Ray said suddenly. “That’s cool.” When Gerard kept his head down to slowly collect the rosaries one at a time, he continued. “I don’t care, man. Whatever makes you happy.” Gerard sped up the process ever so slightly, so Ray must’ve said something right. “Are you like a hunter or something? Like from Buffy?”
Cautiously, Gerard raised his head to hold Ray’s gaze. There was a soft vulnerability to his features as his eyes dissected Ray like he was looking for the joke or punchline. He couldn’t find one apparently since a grin split his face into two. “No, no. I’m like whatever the opposite of a hunter is”--he thought about what that meant for a beat “--The savior or something. But not. I just wanna talk to one, you know? Ask what it’s like and just… pick at their minds. Vampires are so fucking cool, dude, you get it?”
Then, everything went on completely as normal. All that discovery changed was the closeness of Ray and Gerard’s friendship. Really, it was more shocking that Gerard had kept it from Ray for as long as they had been friends, Gerard sharing that this had been an interest of his since he was young. Their discussion broadened, Ray allowing himself to dip into the hypothetical debate of monsters and the undead with Gerard’s loosely spun theories on why such a thing was possible as though he could personally combat science with that logic.
That happened almost three years ago to the day. In fact, the day would be tomorrow. The only reason Ray remembered it was because it was his old dog’s birthday. It didn’t mean much, as she had passed a few years before, but it made it easy to remember.
“Gerard!” Ray called, stepping into their apartment and toeing off his shoes. “You home?”
Gerard poked his head out from their bathroom, hair sopping wet. “Yeah. What’s up?”
“Just seeing if we can watch some shitty movie tomorrow night. I get off early so we can make it a whole thing.” Watching supernatural horror flicks in general was a good time, but watching them with an openly vampire-obsessed Gerard was far more entertaining. Having someone yapping in your ear for a good two hours about the inaccuracies of the lore in a crappy movie sounded hellish in any other scenario, but Ray honestly looked forward to it when it was Gerard. “Didn’t you have one you wanted to watch last time?”
The door opened fully, revealing a dripping Gerard bundled in far too many towels for one person. His expression, rather than excited like he usually was for their movie nights, read as sheepish. “Um, I can’t tomorrow. Sorry.”
Part of Ray couldn’t help but be let down at this. The other part perked up, reading Gerard’s stature. His eyes darted around the space, not landing on Ray for too long, and his fingers twisted the fabric of the towel nonsensically in what had to be a coping motion. “It’s fine. What’s going on?”
Gerard’s mouth pressed into a thin line for a moment as he thought. “Just going out with some people. ‘S all,” he mumbled dismissively, shaking his hair out like a dog.
Now Ray was absolutely sure something was off. It’s not like he didn’t trust Gerard to have other friends besides him, they could’ve been from work for all he knew, but the night scene wasn’t Gerard’s forte. Bars typically were where these after-hour hangouts would take place with coworkers and since that wasn’t his thing, Ray knew something else must’ve been on Gerard’s agenda. “You’re being super secretive. What is it? Can I know?”
Gerard pouted, flipping his hair back out of his face. “Um… maybe. I dunno.”
The jesting attitude Ray put on quickly fell. Of course, Gerard could have his secrets, but as mutual best friends it was a terrible blow to the ego learning one of them wasn’t being entirely honest with the other. “Oh. Okay,” Ray said blankly, attempting to hide any hurt. All he could think to save face was to switch the subject, and so he did. “Do we still have stuff to cook or should we order something?”
“I think we probably still have some box mac and cheese.”
Even though they ate dinner normally, in front of the TV watching a children’s show, the banter was off. It wasn’t due to Gerard’s part, though. Ray found himself unable to shoot back any clever quips to his typical poking. The previous discussion hadn’t left his mind, not even when he was putting dishes in the sink or getting ready for bed. If Ray could remember, he was sure to bet his last thought before dipping into an uncomfortable sleep would be about Gerard’s mystery plans. Ray made sure not once to think about how it wasn’t the plans he cared so much about, but that Gerard didn’t trust him enough to share them.
—
Work dragged on an unfathomably long time despite the fact that Ray had only a partial day. Typically, Ray would work a full day at the music store, busying himself in the back with spreadsheets and numbers and balancing checks. When he could, he’d make appearances in the front to help sell. Even if Ray might be a modest guy, he definitely knew his shit when it came to gear and music. The store usually would close at 9 p.m., but Ray would stay back in the office until later. It wasn’t necessary at all, but it gave him the free time to pluck around with a guitar way above his pay for just a bit. The store after-hours brought a freeing, mystical atmosphere that Ray just itched to create inside of it.
That day couldn’t have been any different. Ray could barely get his eyes to focus on the blinding white screen in front of him, usually finding a methodicalness to managing that just couldn’t be reached that day. Even when he went out to the front to clear his head and talk about the things that interested him, Ray fell flat, unable to think of a single outstanding quality a Les Paul had to make it worth the extra money. He lost the customer and banished himself to the back office for the rest of his painful shift.
Ray got home at what would be considered a normal dinner hour rather than his and Gerard’s shared late dining hour. The lost ideas of a movie night sadly played in his mind. Even if he watched his favorite film with hot food in front of him, it wouldn’t be the same knowing it was because of a collapsed plan with Gerard.
The apartment was eerily quiet when Ray got there, assuming Gerard had left for the mysterious night he had in store. Shortly after deeming this, Ray let out an undignified yelp when Gerard exited his bedroom without warning. All morose thoughts fled him as he became more focused on regulating his heartbeat once again. Gerard looked just as surprised over Ray’s reaction.
“Sorry,” Gerard said plainly.
Ray only shook his head, taking in a breath before having the thought to spy on Gerard’s unusual clothing choices. He was covered from neck to toe in clothing, a turtleneck peaking out from a floral scarf Ray hadn’t seen in years. He wore a thick jacket that reached past his hips, zipper clicking rhythmically to the shining belt buckle beneath. On his arm, Gerard held his usual satchel, but it looked noticeably bulkier than usual. It was so odd and not well hidden at all that it made Ray want to scream questions and demand answers out of his best friend.
Instead, Ray said: “It’s fine. I just thought it was empty.”
“I’m leaving soon. I think,” Gerard assured. He checked the time and his face fell. “Oh. I thought it was later.” His eyes met Ray’s, warm and non-confrontational. “Guess I’ll be here for a little more, but then I really will be out of here for the night.”
The phrase made Ray want to shout all over again. He didn’t want Gerard to leave him alone in their place. He wanted Gerard to be with him to watch movies. He wanted Gerard to eat dinner with him. But honestly, most of all, he wanted Gerard to tell him what the hell he was doing that night.
“Please,” Ray rolled his eyes, offering a painted smile. “You think I hate you or something.”
Gerard grinned. “D’you still wanna try to watch a movie?”
Ray could only think of one thing he wanted more.
For the two hours of whatever French film Gerard had managed to pull out from somewhere, things felt right. It wasn’t about vampires, but Gerard still had a plethora of things to talk about and critique. Ray learned a lot more about period-accurate women’s clothing than he thought the average person might ever need. He continued to eat up every second of it. This was what he needed. Normalcy. The routine that never lost its charm.
All good things must come to an end, however, and when the ending credits began to roll, it seemed Gerard had had enough of entertaining Ray. He began to gather his things, pulling on his jacket and reknotting his boots. There Gerard went again, slipping out from Ray’s metaphorical grasp without any way to stop him from doing so. In a stroke of irony, Ray grabbed a fistful of Gerard’s coat. He couldn’t escape so easily from a physical grasp if Ray had any say in the matter.
“Ray?” Gerard asked.
He had sounded so genuinely confused it made Ray want to let go and shrivel up into a little ball under Gerard’s heavy gaze. Ray persisted after a brave gulp of his nerves. “Dude, why won’t you just tell me where you’re going?” Normal friends didn’t act like this. Normal friends didn’t pester and beg to know what the other was doing. Normal friends let each other go off into the night with their other friends and do weird things the other didn’t know about. And didn’t care to know about.
Why couldn’t Ray just be content with that?
Gerard slid right back into his wary skin, eyes breaking from Ray’s. “Why do you care?”
The words Ray wished he didn’t have to unpack were laid out in front of him. Why did he care? Gerard was a grown guy in his late twenties who didn’t need to share where he’d be and who he’d be with like he was in high school talking to his mom. If he didn’t want to tell Ray, he didn’t have to. So then… what was the matter?
“I just…” Ray started, words not yet formulated. “You’re acting weird about it.”
Gerard shrugged it off. “So are you.” He grabbed his bag, ready to practically launch out of his seat and away from Ray it seemed.
“We… We’re friends. I don’t get why you’re being secretive with me .”
The punch of the last word hit clearly, even over the violin exit music that was grating Ray’s ears from their dinky standing TV. Gerard settled back into his spot, no longer perched like a bird readying to take flight. He let out a deep sigh, as though it had been trapped in him for a millennium, before slowly falling to lean against Ray’s side. Gerard settled there and Ray let him, missing the time when they would do this after class in Gerard’s single dorm until they were both knocked out.
“Promise not to laugh?” Gerard said, mirroring those few years ago.
“Never,” Ray assured.
Gerard sucked in a breath this time, holding it in for a three-count Ray felt like he could hear before letting it out. In that breath, Gerard said: “I'm going vampire hunting.”
Ray barely had time to process before he was responding, “What?”.
“Not- not hunting, really,” Gerard clarified. “More like searching. I’ve been talking with these people on these forums online, and they’ve all been collecting sightings and deaths in the news that point to it all being true.”
Gerard looked to Ray for assurance to keep going, but Ray was too dumbfounded to do much more than nod.
“Well, a few of us in Jersey are getting together tonight to try to find one. They found a sort of pattern–you know, they’re heading north. So we’re going to try to poke around in Montclair to see if we can get a sighting or even talk to one. It’s so fucking awesome, Ray; I’m freaking out!” Gerard rapidly explained.
And Ray… well, Ray didn’t know what to say. He certainly wasn’t freaking out anymore over Gerard leaving him alone mysteriously, but the idea of Gerard perusing around in a place not exactly close to their apartment with a bunch of strangers he met online didn’t exactly put his mind to rest either. And while Ray had come to terms fairly easily with Gerard’s obsession, he had much less faith in other vampire believers to not be completely deranged. Maybe it was a bit biased, so Ray was sure to not mention this train of thought to Gerard.
“That’s cool,” Ray offered weakly. “Sounds fun.”
“I know!” Gerard squeaked, pulling his legs up for a moment to curl into a ball-like position. He sat up from Ray’s side to look at him head-on, smile soft and natural. Ray’s favorite. “I didn’t want you to think I was weird for like… chasing this. I know it’s different and way more extreme than just silvers and books so… I just didn’t want you to think I really am a freak after all,” he giggled. Though there was a sharp pull to his nose as Gerard scrunched his face in a laugh, a small hiccup to his breath.
Gerard was so serious about how he didn’t want to run Ray out the door from these thoughts and dreams. It only put a greater ache in Ray’s heart to have found this out. He mentally kicked himself for any time he could recall that could’ve led Gerard to feel this way–to think so little of Ray’s loyalty. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but he knew he needed to make it right. And Ray knew just how to go about that.
“You know, it might be kinda dangerous over there.” Mostly wrong: Montclair was a fine neighborhood, but danger could strike anyway. “I could drive you and just hang around with you and those… guys. From your forum,” Ray offered.
Gerard’s eyes practically lit up. “Really? Are you sure? I kinda thought you wouldn’t be into this sort of thing.”
“Sounds like a good time,” Ray lied. It sounded mildly miserable–patrolling through an area you’ve never been in after dark chasing what was ultimately a fairytale. Maybe it would get the whole thing out of Gerard’s system though, and movie nights would be back on as normal. Just like how it should’ve been. If a relative life of normalcy occasionally meant once in a blue moon Ray would supervise Gerard on a goose chase, then so be it.
Gerard insisted Ray needed protection on this hunt and Ray let him have his way. He gave Ray a scarf, clarifying it was for less easy access to his throat, and attempted to wiggle him into a jacket. Aside from the fact it was a few sizes too small, that night would be a warm one and Ray would rather not be sweating buckets for this adventure, thank you very much. He appeased Gerard by switching to a long-sleeved shirt.
The drive was sweet, allowing Ray for just a moment to forget they were about to go on a nonsensical hunt for a fictional creature. Gerard sang obnoxiously loud to the songs he knew and even the songs he didn’t. It put a smile on Ray’s face, joining in on the vocal torment to their ears after the slightest encouragement by Gerard. They sang and laughed like any other car ride. Ray felt content.
Half of the singing quickly broke off as they drove past a sign welcoming them to Montclair. Ray followed suit, sneaking a glance at Gerard who’d seemingly gone mute all of a sudden. His eyes were trained outside of the passenger seat window as though a vampire would appear the second they stepped into the area. Another wave of guilt hit Ray for being so judgemental about the whole experience, despite the fact he’d never vocalized these thoughts aloud. He couldn’t tell if that made it better or worse.
The address Gerard had given Ray was for a house owned by one of the other vampire believers. It was a rinky-dink shack, nothing too impressive, but also nothing Ray wanted Gerard to go into alone. He was glad he came, if just for his best friend's safety.
As Ray parked in front of the place and next to a handful of people huddled together in a circle, he heard a shaky breath from his right. He turned to see Gerard with a hand balled up in his lap and the other gnawing at his nails. He looked neither nervous nor excited, but a secret mixture of both.
“You okay?” Ray asked. He stopped himself from offering to take them home, fearful of how Gerard would take it and disgusted by his own intention.
“Yeah,” Gerard quickly said. “Yeah, yeah, I’m just…” His head dipped to look into his lap.
Ray put a comforting hand on his back before his mind even caught up, but this was the right thing to do seeing how Gerard almost instantly let out a long, well-need breath. “What is it?” Ray asked softly.
“I just- I want them to like me. Or- I don’t want them to think I’m fucking weird, Ray.”
That familiar pang hit clear in Ray’s heart again. He didn’t want to say that after looking at these people, Gerard was the coolest there by a mile. It wouldn’t help even if it was true. “Gerard,” he said. Gerard lifted his head, strands curling at the ends around his face. Even if Gerard was scared, looking at Ray, he couldn’t deny the spark of hope he saw in his eyes. He needed to do this right. “They’re gonna love you. You’re funny and, yeah, you are weird. But in the best way. You’re so fucking passionate about this shit they’re all gonna follow you around like dogs. You’re- you’re special , Gerard. Anyone can see that.”
Okay, that was a little much, maybe. Ray swallowed like he was trying to physically retract this confession back into his stomach to be dissolved by acid. But Gerard physically preened at the words, his worried frown pulling up at the ends. Ray decided that he’d face a life of humiliation to see that blooming smile again.
“Thanks,” Gerard mumbled through rosy cheeks. He leaned back in his seat, squashing Ray’s hand.
Ray didn’t move a muscle. He looked out through the front window at the group, who were growing weary and judgemental at their parked car. “I think we should get out. They don’t look happy that we’re stopping their adventure.” He bit back a joke once seeing Gerard’s smile go from mellow to ecstatic.
“Yeah,” Gerard breathed like he was witnessing magic before his very eyes. He threw himself out of the car, bag banging ungracefully against the door as he tried to slam it shut behind him. After trying a second time to close it, Gerard marched on toward the group, who immediately opened the circle to make way. A few of the people pointed at him in recognition, launching into a full-blown conversation.
Ray smiled proudly, his pep talk having seemed to rouse that passion he knew Gerard carried. Seeing Gerard light up in that group, being his unabashed self, just made Ray more glad Gerard went. And more glad he came to see it.
Ray stepped out of the car cautiously, trying to not draw as much attention to himself seeing as he was the visible outsider to the event. This didn’t stop any of these people, apparently, seeing as a hush fell. All of course, beside Gerard’s tinkling laughter, which softly died down as he looked over toward Ray with the general group. However, instead of distrusting eyes, his were filled with mirth. Ray could not let himself fuck this up.
“Hi,” Ray said awkwardly.
One guy in the gathering stepped forward, dark hair swept to the side in an impressive fringe. “Who the hell are you?”
Ray blinked. “Ray.” He didn’t feel like giving out his last name. “I’m with Gerard.”
The small group parted to put Gerard in the middle, eyeing him with confusion and betrayal. Ray immediately was struck with regret.
The man looked to Gerard. “We didn’t authorize anyone else to be here.”
Ray had to bite back a laugh.
“Well, Ray is cool. He’s been my best friend since forever. He- he gets it,” Gerard explained. His hands were back on the strap of his bag, fiddling and twisting. Part of Ray wished he was close enough to reach out and put his hand over Gerard’s in a grounding manner.
The guy then turned back to Ray, chin up in an attempt to make up for the foot of height Ray had on him. He scowled. “You’re a fellow believer?”
It was looking like Ray was going to have to pretend to be crazy into vampires for the night, and he really couldn’t decide if coming along was worth it anymore. “Yep.” A heavy weight settled on his shoulders. “Totally.” This was going to be one long night. Speaking of–when were vampire hunting hours technically over? Sure, they started at nightfall, but that couldn’t mean the group would pull back only at sunrise, right? Ray withheld a sigh.
Even though it looked as though the apparent ringleader wasn’t finished questioning Ray, a guy with a round face and thick sideburns stepped forward. “Awesome! We love new people here.” He poked the accusor in his side with little comfort intended. “This is Pete–my friend. He’s just giving you a hard time. I’m Patrick, I guess. Just don’t call me Pat.”
Ray nodded along with the guy speaking miles a minute. “Sure,” he agreed weakly.
The rest of the sparse group introduced themselves as well, following the circular pattern they had arranged themselves in: Joe (who held a camcorder that was seemingly glued to his hand), Andy (a stoic soul clutching a dark magic book closely to his side), and two lanky guys who whispered to each other a lot. All introduced themselves until circling back to Pete, who only rolled his eyes.
“Pete,” he said plainly. “I’m the one who started this whole thing.” He gestured to the people, all of whom smiled brightly at him. “And I’m the only one who has actually had any contact with a vampire.” This information was seemingly well known to everyone who nodded and made sounds of assurance.
Ray, however, smelled bullshit. “Really?”
Pete nodded smugly and rolled up a sleeve. Right there on his bicep was a thin silver line–a scar. “He got a tooth in before I pushed him away and got out of there. I got like half of the vampire symptoms that night. You know, speed and hearing. But since the bite wasn’t full they faded pretty fast. Ever since then, I’ve been a hunter trying to find the one that bit me.”
The group hung on to his every word like it was gospel and Ray only rolled his eyes. There were plenty of holes in the story that he didn’t bother to expand upon. Instead, he nodded thoughtfully at Pete. “That’s dope, dude.”
“I know,” Pete hmphed. He checks a bulky-looking watch on his wrist before turning to everyone, apparently okay with Ray now assimilating. “It’s time, guys.”
Everyone huddled up before him, Ray getting pushed near the back next to Gerard, who had refrained from shoving up against the rest of the group. Pete unnecessarily shouted some plans for them all to follow which, in reality, were simply a dramatized telling of “we are going to search the woods”. His reasoning for this was that it offered them shelter for killings as well as isolated campers to prey on. None of this seemed very sound to Ray, but he made sure to follow the group.
Somehow, Gerard had switched places with Patrick at Ray’s side. Ray wasn’t aware he had been craning his neck to make sure Gerard stayed in his sight until he was blatantly called out on it.
“He’s not going anywhere different, you know,” Patrick told Ray calmly.
Ray snapped to look down at him. “What?” His eyes naturally shifted back to Gerard, who was talking and discussing with the others like nothing was wrong. “Oh. Yeah.”
Patrick smiled thoughtfully, stepping widely over a tree root sticking out from the ground. “Why did you come here? You obviously don’t believe any of this.”
A wall of defense began to build around Ray and the lie he’d thoughtlessly constructed before he gave in. “For Gerard. He’s actually passionate about all this and I just want him to be safe. And happy.” There was probably more to it, but Ray didn’t see how hashing it out in real-time to a strange guy whom he had just met would help him. “Telling him how I really feel wouldn’t do either of us any favors.”
Patrick looked on toward Pete, who was leading the group triumphantly through the thickening trees. “I do the same for Pete. He, uh…” He mulled over the words. “He wasn’t the most popular when he was still in school. He got into all this cause of the free time he had. When I was younger, I believed it all with him, but now I do it just to get to spend time together.”
Ray didn’t know how to feel about the parallels he and Patrick shared. Sure, there were undeniable links, but Ray didn’t do this out of pity or necessity. This activity didn’t hold their bond together anymore or less than if Ray had stayed home that night. It was just that… they were friends. That’s why he did it. Gerard was his best friend. There wasn’t another reason he could think of to justify his actions.
Just as he was going to respond to Patrick, Pete stopped the group in their tracks. Ray accidentally knocked into Andy, who gave him a silent warning powerful enough to make him take more than one step back with precaution. Pete held up his hand to silence any commotion and looked around avidly at the scene.
“One’s close…” Pete hissed.
Ray shook off the fear being around the group of believers had induced in him. This wasn’t real, no matter how many of these people believed it was. He refused to get caught up in it all when inevitably he’d be the only one with enough common sense left to turn them around and get back to normal society–out of the thick trees that seemed to expand on it any which way.
A sharp snap rang out clearly in the night, a heavy branch falling just beside the group. The whispering duo, who had been absent from group discussion up until that point on the journey, yelped loudly and clung to each other for dear life as it narrowly missed the both of them. The wind picked up quickly around them in bursts, pulling up leaves and kicking stones around from the ground. It was so overwhelming so fast that it made Ray’s head spin.
But nothing about the supernatural was real, right?
Ray pushed forward against Andy to reach Gerard, grabbing his arm. Gerard let himself fall into Ray, though his gaze was fixated on the phenomena around them. He was positively mystified. His eyes danced around the scene, snapping to the irregularities as they picked up around the party.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ray called out to no one in particular. He needed answers but didn’t find himself trusting anyone here to that extreme.
Whether it was panic in Ray’s voice or Pete pulling out some mysterious equipment just out of sight, Gerard kicked into gear. He tore open the satchel at his side to unsheath cloves of garlic and wooden stakes. Ray wasn’t sure how much of that would be of any use to them right then, but he let himself be pulled along in the delusion with the sureness of Gerard’s face. A necklace of garlic was thrown over him, adding a horrible texture when mixed with the itchy scarf, and a long pole was thrust into his hands. Ray had no idea where any of this came from, but he wasn’t exactly in his element right then, so who was he to deny help?
“Show yourselves, fucking cowards!” Pete roared, eyes flashing something dark as his body took on a prowl-like stance.
Ray looked over to Patrick, who was a ghostly white. He hadn’t believed in this, just like Ray. And just like Ray, he was completely at a loss for what to do next. Even Joe looked like he was getting cold feet like he hadn’t been snapping his wrist to catch everything on that damned potato of a camera. No one believed in this type of thing until it grabbed you right by the throat.
Or, in this case, the arm.
Ray was pulled backward into the trees from the group before he could even think to clutch Gerard’s hand. The last thing he saw in the minimal moonlight was Gerard’s eyes, wide open and horrified. The hazel caught the moonlight just so, making it look like he was crying. Ray never wanted to be the reason Gerard cried. However, he couldn’t dwell on this, not with a gloved hand grasping at the accessories at his throat.
Ray was inadvertently getting hurt more by these precautions Gerard made him wear than not. Without thinking, Ray helped the fumbling hands by yanking at these neck items. They were thrown to the floor, completely obscured by the dark. At that point, Ray couldn’t tell his left from his right, let alone the direction he’d just come from.
Chills crawled up Ray’s spine when another set of hands fell on him, these ungloved. They were ice cold, even through Ray’s sweater, and he was suddenly very grateful for being coerced into it. What made the whole thing even worse, making Ray’s innards twist and turn grotesquely, was when two separate mouths began ghosting on either side of Ray’s neck.
Ray couldn’t breathe. The clamped grip on his arms didn’t give an inch as he attempted to throw himself out of the mysterious figures’ grasp, only serving for them to tighten. His heartbeat began to quicken, ricocheting wildly in his chest as he could feel the figures closing in on him. Even in the pure darkness, it was undeniable the compression Ray was being put under. Just as he regained his senses, sharp, searing pains shot through his neck.
Ray almost blacked out from the pain, but gathered enough of himself to scream. It ripped from the inside of his throat while the outside felt like it was getting torn apart. The mouths began suckling and licking and slathering across Ray’s wounds. He screamed all sorts of things: for help, for God, and even for Gerard. He could’ve screamed for a millennium or just half a second, but time only came to when the bare hand was shoved sloppily to his wide-open mouth in an attempt to silence him.
A voice breathed what sounded like an apology into his neck, while another hissed for him to shut up. They continued making work at his neck, nipping and sucking grotesquely. Ray felt sick enough to almost comply until a new searing pain cut through any sense he had. All Ray could think to do was bite. Hard.
Ray bit so hard he heard a crunch before something bitter and cool flooded his mouth. The sensation combined with the taste combined with either figure beside him gasping in fear and horror made Ray’s stomach fall to his feet. Both of the grips had let him go, meaning there was no one to steady Ray and he dropped to the ground. With his head swimming, he couldn’t find it in himself to stand. His breathing grew shallower by the moment, whether from blood loss or the fear that coursed through him.
“Spit it out!” a voice commanded, the harsher one from before.
The bare hand clamped roughly onto Ray’s jaw and before he could think of what to do, he swallowed on reflex. The searing burn down his throat made him gag, bile soon following. Ray’s entire body shook as he spat up the acid from his stomach and hopefully whatever he’d swallowed just then. The two around him though, grew scarily silent.
“You fucking swallowed it,” the same voice said in horror. “You’re such a fucking idiot .” The hand fell from his face.
Ray had no energy in him to come to his defense, on the verge of melting down into hysterical sobs. The second voice, however, seemingly came to his rescue. “That was your fault and you know it,” the figure accused.
The voice dropped closer to Ray as he realized he was being helped up from his knees, gloved hands reaching under his pits to lift him surprisingly easily. For a moment, Ray wanted to thank this stranger before getting hit with a brick to bring him back down to reality in the form of blood sliding irritably down his neck and soaking his top. The first reflexive reaction he had to do him any good was to shove as hard as he fucking could anyway from this guy.
The figure only moved back a step, seemingly of their own accord. “Jesus,” he sighed. There was some rustling as Ray groped blindly for a tree to grab. “We can’t just leave him here.”’
Ray’s heart fell as the meaner voice said, “Sure we can,” with chilling apathy and no remorse. He didn’t know where he was. This area of Jersey was too far out from where he or anyone he knew lived. The forestry was too expansive and dense for any detectives or watchdogs to be able to find him before he was killed or fucking bled to death. Ray was panicking. Bad.
“Don’t be a dick,” the closer voice said in response. “We- we need to…”
A sigh. “What? We need to what?”
“We can’t just fucking leave him! God, he’s gonna need to eat. He’s gonna go through the morphing shit-” Something flew rapidly by Ray’s ear a split second after there was a kick on the ground. “He needs someone. And since you did it, it needs to be you.”
“If you care about this guy so fucking much then you do it! Cause I’m not gonna.”
The conversation grew in volume as the two began to bicker. Twigs snapped and more small woodland things flew through the air. Ray was trying with everything in his being to stay upright, clutching onto the tree trunk like it was a lifeline. Even in pure darkness, spots swirled in Ray’s vision. They were almost like ink on wet paper, sliding around and expanding until they started to give Ray a headache. He needed to throw up again.
So he did, all across the floor.
The argument fell to silence and for a moment Ray wondered if it was because of him, but no hand came to touch him. He remained stagnant, heart racing.
“Fuck,” the meaner voice hissed. “They’re coming.”
Ray heard nothing.
“We need to bring him with us.” The gloved hands pulled Ray from the tree to stand on his own two feet, almost doing him in, but he was steadied with the casual strength of the grip. “Now.”
The bare hands took Ray’s other side. “No. We. Don’t. You’re only going to make this worse.”
“Fucking leaving him here with all this shit is going to make it worse!” the voice growled. “He could talk. He could tell everyone everything.”
“And they’ll just think he’s insane,” the colder one snapped back.
There was a frustrated grunt. “This isn’t the fucking 1800s anymore! They’ve got legit doctors who can test all this bullshit and-”
Now Ray could hear it: tree branches snapping and people yelling, calling out for something. For someone. For Ray. Ray screamed at the top of his lungs: “HELP ME!”
Both hands dropped from Ray like he were on fire. The space around him grew as either presence disappeared. He couldn’t sense anything around him aside from the trees he found himself knocking into and scraping at him more often than not. They had left without a sound. If Ray’s neck weren’t aching enough to make his head spin, Ray could’ve told himself he imagined them ever being there.
A light flashed atrociously into Ray’s eyes, causing him to hiss and lose any composure he had, sending him barrelling into the nearest nest of roots. The bark caught in his hair and something pointed cut open his lip pretty grotesquely from how quickly blood spooled into his mouth. That was the first time where Ray finally let out a sob. It was broken, sharp, and spiked coming out, but it felt like he’d cracked open a shaken soda. Everything came pouring out. Ray lay curled at the base of a monstrous tree, gasping and coughing over the strain living seemed to bring him at that moment.
A hand clutched his shoulder, only this one was not covered in gloves and wasn’t chilled to the bone. This one was warm and shaking him, attempting to roll Ray's right side up.
“Ray!” Gerard called out through the haze.
The franticness of Gerard’s voice roused Ray effectively, his eyes fluttering open, sliding in and out of focus. Gerard looked panicked, eyes wide and hair even more unkempt than usual. There were little scratches across his cheeks, blood mixing in messily with the dirt he’d accumulated. However, this rugged facade cracked at the edges as globbing tears spilled down Gerard’s cheeks and dripped from his chin. Spittle gathered at his lips as all he could see to say was Ray’s name on repeat.
Another hand pushed Gerard to the side, causing a small flame to strike in Ray’s chest. It only grew when annoying Pete shoved himself up in Ray’s face, nostrils flared and eyes glued to his neck.
“Holy fuck,” Pete breathed. “They fucking got you.” His hands began clawing similarly to the hidden figures from before, tugging at the thermal sticking to his neck from the blood.
The reminded trauma as well as the roughness made Ray groan, weakly attempting to shove Pete off. Even with their difference in size, Pete managed to combat this, inspecting his neck. Everything started to fade around Ray again, the corners of his vision darkening and the spots returning, now clear as the flashlight lit up the dank forestry he’d been trapped in. He felt like he needed to throw up again, but after missing dinner, he wasn’t sure there was anything else for him to be able to give.
“Gerard.” Ray hadn’t been aware of his mouth formulating the name, but it was undeniably coming from him as the rasp hit the air. His voice felt thick and raw, throat grating with every syllable. All he could think was that if he were to blackout right then, he didn’t want it to be under cold analysis from a shitty guy he’d met that night. He wanted the world to fade out with the last comforting thing of Gerard being there for him.
And there Gerard was, pushing back into Ray’s line of sight, the tears drying but horror still painted unshaken on his face. “I’m here.” Gerard’s chant had changed too. Ray’s eyes slipped closed in time with Gerard slipping their fingers together, lacing their grip. The frantic voices turned into a vocal soup, sliding around Ray’s head like something warm from a kitchen. His mind was surely playing tricks on him, but that didn’t make the feeling of being tucked into bed at night seem any less real. Ray was out before he could think to question anything else.