The Things We Fear

For some, the sun streaming through the window first thing would be an annoyance. For Marcus, it meant the day had returned once again. The dark of night chased away by that bright burning star at the centre of the universe. Bringing life back. Light and safety once rule once more.

As the morning light burnt through his eyelids, a smile stretched over his face. Shifting in bed, he hit against the splayed limbs next to him in the double bed. Rolling his eyes at the ridiculous way his best friend slept. It was a strange sensation to know his friend trusted him implicitly. More than one friend had abandoned him when he came out as gay. Filled with some unconscious fear that he would prey on them and somehow corrupt them to his sinful way of life.

Theo couldn’t care less. He knew the type of person Marcus was at his core. Who had no interest in most of the guys in this town, bar one, maybe two, but attraction and liking personalities were two very different things. The point was, despite being openly gay, his best friend had no issues sharing a bed because he knew Marcus was not some creep about to touch him against his will.

In some ways, it was a low bar to hold, but Marcus had learned to count his blessings in a small town. He had thought more than once that if this was how people reacted to the LGBTQIA+ community, how would their small minds cope with the supernatural surrounding them?

Marcus shouldn’t complain. Other than a few homophobic douchebags, most people were accepting. Well, Rod’s levels of acceptance, other than a few pricks who probably would have found something to pick on him for, regardless. The gay thing was simple. If it hadn’t been that, it would have been him being the son of a cop, or being on the swim team rather than the football team. It could have been anything. People like that would always find some reason to put others down. It wasn’t fun or fair, but it was what it was. It taught him to appreciate his people.

The boy next to him let out a snort in his sleep. His eyes flickering under the lid. The boy dreaming about something as he mumbled, turning to his side. Marcus debated waking him, but hesitated, it would be easier to check his wounds whilst the other was asleep. After everything he had just been thinking, he felt like a creep checking Theo’s skin. The wounds were all healing, several entirely gone it had been two days since the attack, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for them to have healed, but left a sour sensation in his gut. Picking up his pillow, he hit the other boy into waking, taking his frustrations out on his sleeping form.

Theo jumped, rolling away, before falling to the floor.

“Duuuude! Why?” he whined from the carpet, looking up with betrayed eyes. “I was dreaming of Samantha.”

“Yeah, and you were muttering creepily. I had to save my innocent ears.”

Theo snickered, “You haven’t been innocent since you were thirteen and saw James coming out of the swimming pool.”

Marcus could feel his cheeks heat at the memory. It had been a confusing time. No longer connected to his friends, the doctors trying to medicate him and realising he was only able to get boners when looking at the men. No matter how many beautiful women he saw, whether in real life or on screen, he wouldn’t even twitch. It had been the age of boys starting to talk about touching and the pleasure of the high. A young Marcus hadn’t been able to understand what they were talking about, until he saw a younger James climbing out of the pool, dripping with water. He had found himself wanting to lick the water from his skin and had no idea why. It had been an eye-opener. Currently, he regretted sharing said discovery with his best friend. Throwing the pillow at him again.

“Eurgh, what was this stuff you put on me? It stinks.”

Theo’s complaint brought him back to the present moment. His eyes slowly drifting to the boy currently sniffing his arm where one of the scratches had once been. He'd been putting it on the other boy every night hoping to fight off any potential infections. The sour feeling grew like a gremlin fed after midnight. If his stomach could have pounded like his heart, it would have done so now.

“No, Theo, it doesn’t.”

“Yeah it does,” he finally climbed from the floor, shoving his arm under Marcus’ nose, “Smell.”

Marcus took a smell, hoping he was wrong.

“I can’t smell anything. Maybe it’s just your sleep stench. Go have a shower, you’ll be fine after.”

He prayed it would be. Prayed his instincts were wrong.

“Rude, dude. Fine. but if there’s no hot water left, it’ll serve you right.”

Marcus fell back onto his bed as the other left his room. This was not a good sign. Even if the poultice held a small smell upon first application, it had long dissipated since the previous night. At least it had to his human nose. If Theo could still smell it, it was not a good sign. He was going to make the boy a garlic smoothie and force it down the fucker’s throat.

Clambering down the stairs, he made sure to ruffle Brody’s hair as he passed the boy past the back of the couch.

“Mom already at work?” he asked, looking around.

“Yeah, she’ll be back at dinnertime, she left money on the counter with a list of groceries she needs you to get. Can I come with you to the shop?” The boy looked at him with his biggest puppy dog eyes.

Marcus hadn’t planned on refusing him anyway, but there was no way on earth he could have resisted those big brown peepers. He was a weak man. He half hoped for and half dreaded the day the boy became too old to pull such tricks any longer.

“Sure, Kiddo. Theo’s in the shower, but jump in after him, I’ll fix us some breakfast in the meant time.”

“Okay,” Brody smiled before running up the stairs.

He probably should have told him not to run, but Marcus had been as bad when he was younger; there’s a reason the doctors thought he had ADHD. He’d let his brother have his fun while he could. Opening the fridge, he saw the bacon and eggs were about to go off.

“Toasted sandwiches it is,” he said to himself, pulling them from the cool container.

He heard a crash from up the stairs, patently choosing to ignore it. It wasn’t followed by any screaming, so everything was probably fine. Setting the frying pan on the stove, he added butter to the skillet. Removing the meat from its packaging. He was still debating what to do with the eggs. A fried egg and bacon butty was lovely, but he kind of fancied some scrambled egg.

“Dude, your shower shelf fell. I barely touched the thing, and it crashed around me. I cleaned up, but it’ll need drilling back in or whatever,” Theo came in, hair still dripping and a towel over his shoulder.

The shower shelf was a few years old, it could have been a coincidence, but these coincidences were starting to pile up. Taking a jar from the cupboard, he handed it to Theo.

“Could you open this for me?”

Theo gave him a confused look at the request but shrugged before doing it anyway. The glass shattered in his grip. The lid still attached to the top half. There was no way of denying this one.

“Oh, crap, don’t know my strength apparently. Oh, ew, the vinegar stinks.”

Pickled cabbage in vinegar was a pain to clean, the pink stained any fabric it touched. Quickly grabbing a cloth, he picked up the shards and wiped up the liquid that had spilt. Dumping it in the bin and throwing the cloth in the washer.

“Wow, something smells, good,” Theo said, sniffing the air in a way which reminded Marcus of the wolves.

If he had been tallying, this would have been another mark.

“Yeah, bacon’s frying,” he moved to the tap, running the vinegar mess from his hands.

“No, not that, something,” Theo paused, “deeper,” it was almost rumbled out.

Looking down at his hand, he saw the small rivet of red as it ran with the cool water down the sinkhole. He could feel the heat that ran through his body. This wasn’t embarrassment or attraction, though. This was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. His blood was pumping at such a rate it rose his body temperature dramatically. As much as his mind screamed, it could be another coincidence, he knew. He knew better. Had known. From the moment by the pool. His friend, the one completely oblivious to the supernatural and the things happening in Breckon Heights, was no longer entirely human.

“Fuck.”

“What?”

“Err. Cut myself. Listen, sit down whilst I finish making us food, we need to get groceries today and I think you might be still a bit wobbly after last night.”

Wobbly, he had no idea why he said wobbly. It was the only word he could think of. Saying his best friend might be turning into one of the undead was not exactly an easy conversation to have over breakfast. If he was hoping to cling to his denial for a little longer, that was his business.

When Brody joined them, freshly showered and ravenous, they each dug into their sandwich. He had scrambled the eggs in the end. Simply because it was quicker and he didn’t have the patience to try and get the eggs perfectly cooked but still with a dippy yolk today. Munching down the food, he saw the odd faces Theo was pulling intermittently.

“Marcus, you sure this bacon’s alright?” Theo asked, pulling a strip of bacon from between the toasted pieces of bread.

“Yeah, it’s fine. It doesn’t go off until tomorrow,” he replied, inspecting the perfectly crispy piece Theo had pulled from his sandwich.

“Dunno, it tastes funny to me. Whatever, I’ll just have more eggs,” he said piling more on his plate before coating them in tomato sauce.

If Marcus had to take extra effort to swallow, it must have been because he hadn’t chewed properly and not because a cry wanted to work its way out of his throat. Brody snatched the discarded pieces of bacon, cheerfully declaring “waste not, want not” as he munched down the extra strips. If the food suddenly lost all flavour, that was between Marcus and his surging sense of guilt.

“We off to the supermarket then, little man?” Theo beamed at Brody, the two could have passed for brother's with how similarly they behaved.

“Yes, and Marcus is going to buy me candy.”

“Oh, I am, am I?” he snarked playfully.

“Yup. I’ve been very well-behaved. I deserve a treat,” the small boy said, nodding to himself.

Theo’s laughter was not helping.

“Sure you have, and if I went to your room, it would be nice and tidy, just like mom asked, right?”

The smaller boy’s smile froze in place, his fluid movements becoming more rigid.

“If you gave me a ten minutes head start it would be,” Brody finally replied not quite meeting his eyes.

Marcus would have liked to blame his best friend for teaching his brother sarcasm, but he knew the brat had learned it entirely from him. Even he was fighting the smile that kept threatening to break from the side of his mouth.

“Right, well, I need to take a shower before we go, so you have that long to make sure that room is neat and tidy and all your toys are packed away. If it is I will let you buy one, one,” he stressed again, knowing his brother’s habit of bargaining, “piece of candy.”

The boy looked a little sullen at being told only one, but soon brightened. Marcus could practically see the wheels turning in the boy’s head. Already expecting the one piece of candy was going to be a giant one or a bag with many in, for all his brother was rainbows and sunshine, he had a conniving streak already crafting itself out. If Marcus liked to nurture it from time to time, that was neither here nor there. Resigning himself to this fate, Marcus trudged up the stairs. All the time wondering if there was some way to stop a transformation and if he might need to go vampire hunting that evening.

There might be a magical way to prevent it, but Marcus was not schooled enough to know what. He briefly considered calling Cassius, before quickly scrapping the idea. If there was anything worse than Theo being turned into a vampire, it would be owing the devil a favour.