Chapter Text
To live an immortal life is to know the reason why the ritual is referred to as an awakening.
Every physical part of the body is subject to change, that much is so prominent in every overturned cell rewriting each particle twined together in a singular being— the mental element shifts with extremity that doesn’t alter the soul, but the world as a whole. It’s as though Gerard hadn’t been the one to change, but a key twisted in a lock to unveil a universe that is separate from a mortal plain he wandered for so long in ignorance of its true splendor.
The thought of parting ways with sunlight mostly seems a miserable detail, but the pain of it is overshadowed by all the rest so Gerard can’t think to miss its golden beams if he has been shaped into one, a pillar of pure energy and light no matter how vampires affiliate with darkness, as is their nature. It’s like when the sun lowers behind a mountain. Though there is shadow, the light never fully burns out of existence. He has become his own sunlight.
Gerard weighs in on existence, his existence, as a whole during the brief period of his transformation. He’s never been so conscious of his body and its functions before, but as human parts of him steadily funnel out and make way for a rebranding of his very being, it’s a bittersweet funeral that is a slow undoing of time’s shackles. Soon enough, something as important as time will become insignificant evidence of a human’s habit of measuring and shaping everything into something scientific and numerical. Time will be a funny familiar sound like the sharp bend of the wind angled away from the manor on the hilltop or the distant chirp of birds evading the perimeter with a tingling sense that something very amiss inhabits a home rich with history tinted in red.
Yet Gerard doesn’t feel like a thing that should be avoided by all things involved in nature. Viewed as an abomination to be separated from humanity, Gerard thinks the alienation is done out of pure fear rather than a furious biblical loathing people mask it with. He senses his power and how it differs from his human form. Back then, he was wilting without realizing. Bound to disintegrate with age in the unraveling compass of time he’d become an unknowing slave to, meek and compliant in a society structured so specifically he was with a constant reminder that he would always be beneath one person or another.
No such wicked formation exists within the boundary lines of Scarlet Fields. Gerard can confide in the strength instilled in his bones and worship the power radiating through his veins without ever needing to compare himself to anyone again— and he wonders how he could’ve ever been so ignorant to the limits that came with being human. Perhaps programmed to be pliant without a choice to do otherwise if he wanted a chance at survival. Patterned like a quilt, threaded in instinct that came from watching and learning, being told to politely bow to authority and constantly belittle his own value otherwise he would come across as arrogant, self-involved.
There’s no arrogance in this new appreciation of every particle piecing him together. No turmoil when he starts to adore himself. There’s only peace. Quiet. He can grow a discussion with the air and answer to his own mind aloud and still no sound could puncture the warm silence that vanquishes the constant noise he dealt with in his human life.
Being human is loud, exhausting, and bright. Everything that comes with being immortal is what humans unknowingly search for their entire lives. Some even die trying, and maybe Gerard had, but he’s more alive than ever.
All things come with a taxing catch, but Gerard’s isn’t so punishing that it can lead him to regret the decision he made. There’s the pain of reconstruction, sensitivity now that every ability he had such as seeing and hearing has been enhanced by a remarkable percentage. His emotions swing and swell without warning, doubling and then reverting to numbness, but it’s all so fleeting that it’s nothing a bit of rest can’t resolve. Or, in his case, a lot of rest. The bruising ache in his mouth only reminds him of dental pain he experienced far in the past, and even that is definitely a more painful memory than his gums accommodating to his new ability to sprout razor sharp teeth made for cutting into prey. In his case, no prey will come, but that’s no issue to him as someone who can’t imagine tearing into a live person’s throat and feeling happy about it. The idea of it makes him shudder.
Ray and Frank cater to his every need as they vowed they would. Gerard has already been given every material possible to make the transformation bearable, but the extra mile is taken when either one lifts him from the comfort of bed to submerge him in warm bathwater, taking a sponge and delicately running it across his damp skin as he shivers out the fever. Frank guides glasses of water to his parched mouth and Ray brushes his hair whenever it tangles. And in the evenings when darkness shrouds the grounds to consume every wink of sunlight, Gerard lays his head on Ray’s chest as Frank curls up at his back, the three of them entangled for slumber and unwilling to release each other for even a fragment of a second. Gerard’s wired emotion thickens his throat in those moments when he’s settled between his lovers, gathering the weight of his new identity in combination with this love that has burst inside him like fire, and revels in the blaze knowing it’s the kind of flame that goes undying with no signs of burns. An unfathomable depth that is similar to the ocean in the way a simple mind cannot explore every inch of it, and perhaps it would be dangerous to unmap the secrets hidden in every trench.
Gerard’s capacity to love has well overflowed what a mortal can harbor and it’s too much, too bold— but not nearly enough in the same breath. He would gladly see his flesh sinking in the bodies of his lovers as they all disintegrate into an enigmatic shadow of what once was like the silhouette of Jesus soaked into sacred fabric. Holy, so fragile and yet so monumental . . . untouched in eternal preservation and never to be separated.
Intense, he knows. But it fits them. He’s been inspired to love in a way he thought was fictional.
On the day Gerard breaks through the pain and finishes turning through his memories like a scrapbook, Gerard sits up in bed with an itch in his throat. An intolerable, horrible itch that feels like the inner lining of his throat is cracking in tiny fissures due to dryness and no amount of spit swallowed down can relieve it. Though his body doesn’t crave water. It craves something thicker, warm and savory.
His very first craving for blood.
Frank, who had been curled around him for a midday nap, rises along with him, blinking sleep from his eyes clouded in his sweet concern.
“What’s the matter, darling?” Frank asks for possibly the hundredth time since Gerard began his transformation, though the words never become tired or dull.
Gerard cups a hand around his own throat, swallowing hard with no relief. He lets out a tiny shaking breath and whispers, “Thirsty.”
Frank is wide awake in a second. He springs up from bed, nodding fervently. “Of course. This will be temporary, I’ll go and fetch you blood from our supply. Stay here.”
Frank disappears out the door in a rush. Gerard waits, noting every detail of this strange sensation. It feels familiar. Like dehydration, the body crying out for nourishment, almost like hunger— it feels like it would transcend into that if he neglects it. There’s a tightness in his temples like the warning signs of a migraine only without a tremendous ache settling in his skull. Funnily enough, he’s almost giddy experiencing thirst, setting aside the overall unpleasant physical part of it. It means he’s but a step away from crossing the final boundary.
When Frank returns, it’s as though he feels the same. It’s a known fact Frank was the most enthusiastic about Gerard’s transformation in comparison to a wary and reluctant Ray who eventually learned to find light in the situation, just enough to want it for the three of them. But Frank is excitable, eager as he brings Gerard an armful of warm bags of blood to push into Gerard’s hands he hadn’t known were reaching out for them until he feels them in his grasp. Already, his muscles tighten, his gums aching with a bright flare of pain as his teeth elongate into sharp points.
“Just as if you were human, don’t drink too quickly or you’ll feel unwell,” Frank advises. “I know it’ll be difficult to hold back . . . it always is during the first quarter of your transformation, especially your first feeding. You’ll come to enjoy savoring every drop over devouring to satiate your thirst. A fledging typically doesn’t think much about anything other than soothing the pain.”
He can barely focus on what Frank is saying. Gerard’s hands shake as he fumbles with one of the pouches. Blood , the word echoes in his skull like the bells of Notre Dame, growing in volume. He splits open the bag at the top and brings it to his lips, finally drinking deep.
The taste is immaculate. If it’s divine in this preserved state, he can just imagine how it feels spilt fresh from the vein, but he quickly shakes off this dark thought as he vanishes into the process of draining the bag dry as that itch in his throat is at last soothed. He gulps, but slows, remembering Frank’s advice. Greed isn’t flattering on anyone to begin with.
It’s overwhelming once the full effect kicks in. The rearrangement of the senses unfurling with heightened sensitivity, one at a time as the hunger is resolved, but a new one stirs from an isolated slumber. Gerard feels it sluggishly blinking awake, something very beyond ordinary thirst and craving. Heating his system is the appearance of an unexpected visitor, the momentous beast of lust. It isn’t solely defined by a circumstance in where one would most commonly expect lust to form. There’s no touch, no lingering eyes, no wanton liking for a certain person or thing. It’s consuming in the same ways, but Gerard doesn’t know how to describe it, he only knows that his body is reduced to heavy wanting.
Perhaps this may be the thirst, he thinks while draining another packet. Being a vampire comes with a lust for blood— but it’s almost like the blood won’t be enough to satiate him despite its divinity. He makes a low and feral sound at the back of his throat he’s never heard come out of him before as he finishes that one and opens another.
Frank comes to his aid by soothing him into slowing, caressing his hair with soft shushing at his lips. “I know, I know. The first time is always so overwhelming. Like nothing can ever take away the ache that you feel . . .”
Gerard shuts his eyes and gasps when he pulls his mouth from the spout of the now empty blood bag. He reaches for another, tearing it open with rushing hands, but Frank covers them with his own to slow his movements. Gerard growls quick and dangerously, instantly recoiling at his own sound, but Frank acknowledges him with no fear. He’s completely calm and composed as he locks eyes with Gerard to work as his anchor that prevents Gerard from sinking into a dark starvation despite the fact he’s feeding.
Frank slowly guides the opening of the blood bag to Gerard’s lips. Tipping it, he waits for his stained lips to part before he invites it in, feeding Gerard the blood in a sluggishly thick stream that flows across his tongue like a river of melted silver. A fuse bursts and sparks spray through the center of Gerard’s filling gut as Frank’s eyes never stray through the duration of the feeding. He watches honeyed hazel break away to invite a glistening red that undoubtedly mirrors Gerard’s own lustful eyes like the reflection of rubies against glass when the sun breaks through in beams like spotlight. They make a show of Gerard that pleasures the watcher and so he grows insatiable at the first taste of unbridled belonging as he becomes the center of someone’s universe. It’s almost as addictive as this taste flourishing across his tongue and soaking into his palate to permanently alter its inclination.
When the bag is drained, Gerard seeks out more, but Frank shushes him softly while he discards the emptied plastic to dispose of them later. “That’s all for now. There’s so much time in the world for you to indulge in whenever you please, there’s no need to rush things. Greed is the one thing a vampire should never adopt as a habit.”
Gerard almost whines. He’s left with a freshly spawned desire that seeps into every thrumming vein and he hardly tells the difference in his senses or the easing of the pain when he’s so distracted by it. His eyes rest on the first thing he truly focuses on now that he’s been parted from the blood; Frank.
He pulls Frank in, ignoring the tiny gasp he releases from his surprise, and brings him into a kiss feeding Frank the remnants of blood resting in a film at his lips. Immediately, Frank melts into him, an instinctive response mingling with a resembling desire that budded in him mere moments after they were first acquainted. Gerard shivers feeling him moan into his mouth— a velvety rumble shaking off into the softest, lowest growl as some primal instinct is tickled by the invitation of blood. Frank licks into his mouth to chase after it, snaking his arms around Gerard to guide him so close that nothing could even attempt to slot between their bodies for how tightly they’re pressed together. The kiss turns nearly brutal at that point, sharpened teeth clashing and nibbling, lips meeting in hard presses like neither of them can do anything but fuel the fire. Gerard’s body is like a furnace with blood running through his system in combination with the heavenly taste of Frank hinted beyond it with the sweetest fragrance twisting down and through him like the vines scraping up the walls of the manor. He never had the slightest idea wanting like this could even exist .
“I leave you two alone for an hour and even in such a short amount of time, neither of you are capable of keeping your hands off each other.” Ray’s familiar voice pipes in from the doorway, imbued with fondness and a tinge of arousal to be met with the sight of the two of them tangled together.
The two break apart, but not in a chagrined manner. Gerard is learning to shed his bashfulness in regards to their relationship and Frank teaches him to embrace the side of him that is almost completely brazen when his blood is churning most in a state of undress. The most he’ll give into is a sheepish smile, but that is hardly criminal in Frank’s book for how endeared he is by it.
“He had his first feeding,” Frank explains partially breathlessly, hands slipping underneath Gerard’s shirt to grip his hips. Gerard rests his forehead on his shoulder, peeking through his hair at Ray as his head spins from absorbing his first meal as a vampire. He feels so much better already, but strange. This is completely foreign to him.
Ray hums understandingly, curious and concerned as he wanders in to kneel beside Gerard. He guides his head up with two fingers beneath his chin and Gerard melts into the tender gesture, blinking up at him.
“Are you feeling well?” Ray asks. “I know the first taste of blood is quintessentially. . . well, intense , for lack of a better word. The physical toll can take hours to subside.”
Gerard studies his body closely through the fog. “I don’t . . . I don’t feel sick anymore. Just needy. And it feels a bit like everything is in slow motion, but not quite. Like the world is running a second behind its ordinary pace.”
Ray strokes his cheek and Frank pets his hair away from his face, soft lips meeting his temple. Gerard’s lashes flutter. He’s suddenly heavy as one would feel after consuming a large warm meal, a tinge of dizziness coming to blanket over it.
“During the first stage, you need to feed often. The tail end of the transformation burns out the blood rapidly, so anticipate feeling hungry again in the sum of two hours or so. But it only lasts about a day. I’ve stocked our supply with more than we’ve ever carried in this house just now.”
“What about you two?” Gerard worriedly looks between them. “You’ve been so absorbed in how I’m doing, are you taking care of yourselves?”
“Of course,” Frank says softly, eyes gentle and shiny as he tucks Gerard’s hair behind his ear. “Just because you’re our priority doesn’t mean we’ve been intent on neglecting ourselves. I promise you we’re keeping fed and rested. You know how we sleep beside you when you’re resting.”
Gerard is satisfied by this response. He hasn’t much gotten the opportunity to process everything in full and now he’s tainted by a strange guilty feeling in association with his transformation. He can only be certain of one thing and that’s the fact Frank and Ray have never been dishonest with him about anything, especially when he asks for them to open.
“How did it feel?” Ray asks.
“Feeding?”
“Mhm.”
Gerard wipes beneath his chin, finding a tiny smear of blood come away on his pale skin. He quickly gathers it with his tongue, a surprising motion he almost laughs at. “Fucking amazing.”
Frank chuckles, running his fingers along Gerard’s skin and eliciting a shiver from him. “I think the lustful part of it conquers him more than the primal.”
“That we can handle much more than any savagery,” Ray grins. “We can’t have blood spilled on any of these fine rugs, though I would say that’s a splendid tip I should refer to Frank if such a thing as time travel were possible.”
Frank shoots him a glare holding no venom. “It was only one rug.”
Gerard hides a chuckle in the crook of Frank’s neck, letting the tip of his fang graze his skin. “I should’ve known you were the sanguinary type during your first feeding.”
“How could you expect anything different from me now that you’ve had your first taste and know what it’s like?”
Gerard’s mouth fills with saliva and venom thinking of the burst of flavor he indulged in. “Maybe you have a point.”
“Have you gotten the chance to rest at all this afternoon?” Ray stands, holding out both hands to bring his lovers to their feet.
“A little, but the thirst struck me so suddenly.” Gerard touches his throat lightly, eyeing the empty blood bags Frank retrieves with disbelief over the fact that he consumed so much. “Did I seriously drain four bags in so little time?”
“This is nothing compared to what I imagined you may need, don’t fret.” Frank steps aside to reveal several more full bags resting at the foot of the bed. Gerard’s stomach already tightens despite an overall physically satisfied feeling, like the sight of blood alone has become as much of a trigger as a dog trained to salivate at the sound of a bell.
“You won’t always need to feed directly from the bag. You can infuse it with other beverages. Teas, alcohol, coffee. All depending on your choice and preference.” Ray guides Gerard to bed while Frank momentarily darts out of the room to properly return the leftover.
Gerard’s interest sparks. “Coffee? Really? What does that taste like?”
Ray smiles knowingly, pulling back the covers for Gerard to glide under them. “Imagine blood with a far smokier, darker flavor. My personal preference is with tea, mostly— a more subtle bitterness to accent the blood. Oh, but when mixed with wine, you’ll never want to consume anything other than that again.”
Gerard feels his eyes grow heavy in a combination of craving combined with the exhaustion of a taxing first feeding repairing his insides anew. “I’ll have to try all of the above. What’s Frank’s favorite?”
Frank materializes, summoned by the mention of his name. Just in time to slide into bed on the other side of him as Ray does the same, the bed dipping and creating a comfortable cradle for Gerard to sleepily nest in with the comforting solidness of their bodies pressed against his sides.
“My affinity for wine survived through my transformation. I suppose I’ve always been attracted to the luxury of it, so I take it with my blood when leisuring. But that addictive combination should be put on hold until after you’ve fully adjusted to this life, my love. You’ve only just become a full vampire.” Frank tugs the covers over Gerard, pressing a ghostly kiss to his forehead. Ray follows, lips touching his cheek.
Gerard smiles tiredly. “So it’s official?”
“As official as anything can possibly be,” Frank smiles against Gerard’s skin. “Welcome to your new life. No two souls have ever been happier than Ray and I to have you here with us.”
“Don’t leave my side,” Gerard manages to wade through the thickness of imminent sleep just long enough to relay his request. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept as deeply as I do when you’re both here with me. I can’t ever go back to sleeping without you.”
“We would stay here with you even if you wished for an eternal slumber.” Ray turns Gerard onto his side and brings him against his chest as Frank curls up behind him. Limbs tangle, breaths mingle, and contentment envelopes them as gently as gossamer falls over the pink skin of a blushing bride.
—
Gerard decides he likes the combination of blood with jasmine tea, a touch of sugar sprinkled into the fine mixture. He sips and soothes the yanking chain of thirst in the same vein as warming his system that at times acquires a chill once the blood from a previous feeding has been fully absorbed.
Ray brewed him his first cup during the celebration of his full awakening, sitting closely beside him as he filled Gerard’s head with stories from a time before his, Frank draped on the sofa adjacent to them and calmly listening despite hearing the tales hundreds of times before. Then he kissed away a stray droplet at the corner of Gerard’s mouth once the cup was emptied, swept him into his arms, and dropped him into Frank’s lap so he could easily take turns stealing kisses from both their smiling lips.
Gerard wanders through the manor while sipping at the blood tea in his cup. It isn’t as tasteful as when Ray prepares it, but he supposes he has eternity to master it. Lately, he finds himself wandering the halls in wonder of everything with renewed eyesight that captures every detail. He takes advantage of it to pursue maximum cleanliness since turning into a vampire is no excuse for him to lack in his performance while completing chores, a habit that’s stayed with him and he refuses to give up for the peace it brings him. He wipes away every tiny fleck of dust from every surface and kneels beside his precious flowers in the night, hypnotized by the way he can watch them bloom in tiny fractions of movement in a single hour, a detail he wouldn’t be able to note if his eyesight were still human. They grow with new significance for Gerard to marvel over, symbols of life itself, and he chooses to be completely grateful not a single petal has been robbed from him despite an aversion to the sun.
Music fills the hall as he approaches the piano room on the night of a full moon. The ivories are well beloved by Frank’s expert fingers which can fly across them with ease, so much so that it’s likely a blindfold could rest over his eyes and he still wouldn’t miss a note. The music is sweet if not a bit melancholy, but it switches over to a brighter sound when the first song comes to a close. Gerard takes a final drink of his remaining tea through the small smile curving his mouth, peeking around the doorway curiously when two voices layer under the music.
He finds Frank seated at the piano as expected, but with Ray standing behind him, bent to wrap his arms around his waist as his chin perches on his shoulder. When he turns to bury his face in the crook of his neck, Frank breaks out with a glimmering laugh almost causing his hands to stutter on the keys, but not quite. He relents only a second after, twisting around to curl his hands around Ray’s face to draw him into a kiss between two smiling mouths. Ray chuckles softly into it, pulling back to nudge his nose against Frank’s, eyes blissfully shut. Gerard beams, backing away from the door to continue his stroll. He chooses not to interject sometimes despite being more than welcome to because the beauty of knowing Ray and Frank’s love has survived all these years without strain comes as a consolation to him he wants to feel settling in his heart without interruption. It’s a spark of hope he holds onto with everything he has.
Resting his emptied cup in the kitchen, Gerard escapes to the back to soak in the beaming moonlight that glows in its full glory that night. He recalls Ray mentioning moonlight is especially good for a vampire to meditate in, as it recalibrates the emotional center that can easily fall into turmoil due to the wider capacity for emotion and also in terms of power. He’ll be less likely to feel that edge of fatigue when the sun is high even while barricaded indoors and may even be able to sit under it in proper coverage for longer periods of time. It’s all fascinating to Gerard, but he hasn’t gotten to test it out because he’s been waiting for the full moon to arrive.
The moon reflects on the glassy surface of the pool. The red glow and unique shape remind him distantly of the red emblem on the back of a black widow’s plump body. It’s especially alluring that night as Gerard stands beside it and gazes at the ripples that are so subtle they wouldn’t be all that noticeable to humans. Eventually, its appeal is too much to withstand. Gerard always felt a bit embarrassed to enjoy the pool despite the invitation to use it as much as he pleases, but now, Scarlet Fields is his home, too. Thinking back on that fact makes every ounce of hesitation feel like child’s play to him.
Gerard strips down to his underwear and rests his clothes in a neat pile on the side. As he steps into the water, it feels warm lapping around his ankles and the rest of him as he walks in deeper, an encompassment like the embrace of a fond old friend. He pushes off his tiptoes when he’s able to and slowly cuts through the water in broad strokes, watching in deep fascination the red ripples encasing him and making him appear like he’s carved from a ruby. He may be still and cold as one, he thinks, but perhaps the new grace he’s adopted makes up for it much like the jewel he resembles.
When the water has fully surrounded him, Gerard flips around on his back so the surface may carry him anywhere it pleases. This is the entire reason he wishes to dip into the pool; to float as if on a cloud of red, soaking in every bit of moonlight that grins down through the peaks of high trees and rooftops that appear to pierce the sky from this angle. A conglomeration of constellations bridge across the blackened sky like shimmering diamonds. Gerard can count each star individually, seeing past a thin veil in the atmosphere to the splendor of outer space. It’s almost terrifying, but so breathtaking that it ebbs away any fear of acknowledging the earth is truly just a freckle in the massive construction of the universe.
Most of all, in this observation, Gerard has never felt so small and so grand in the same breath. He closes his eyes as he floats and soaks moonlight into his skin, feeling how it reaches for the inner core and perfectly balances out his breathing pattern. There’s no pain, no temperature too cold or too warm, no desire to shiver even when a soft breeze flutters over his wet skin. For once in his life, Gerard is perfect.
“Do you mind if we join you?”
It could’ve been hours since Gerard faded away into his own self when he heard the question, but it’s of no concern to him how much time had passed since his eyes shut. He opens them, finding Frank and Ray in a similar state of undress as him standing at the edge of the pool. He immediately breaks out into an easy smile and holds out a hand to them, summoning them.
The two dip inside as fluidly as the water they submerge in. Gerard paddles out to them, reaching Ray first. He finds his hand below the surface and pulls him in to kiss him, wetting the skin at his shoulder with his dripping hand coming to rest there. Ray hums against his mouth and wraps his arm around his waist.
“You taste like blood tea,” Ray murmurs against his lips, leaving a space between their mouths for his thumb to press down on his lower lip as if to gather the remnants of the blood left in a phantom film soaked into his skin. Gerard licks his fingertip, smirking at the way Ray barely suppresses a groan.
Gerard nips at Ray’s thumb, one hand curling around his wrist. “So do you.”
Frank slots in beside them, eyes glistening with a red sheen from both the pool and a tendril of hunger awakening in him. He tips Gerard’s face towards him, eyes resting heavy on his parted lips. “I’d like a taste.”
Gerard whines as Frank claims his lips in a heated kiss. As their lips move together, Frank’s dexterous tongue pushes in and swipes along Gerard’s to gather the taste he searches for, only that fleeting desire shifts as the kiss deepens and Gerard body runs hot like a glitching wire the second Frank’s hand curls around his jaw to feel it moving along in the same rhythm as his lips. Gerard can taste blood on Frank’s tongue too, richer and definitely taken straight from the bag instead of adding it to a preexisting brew. Gerard’s hunger stirs at the taste of it in raw form, tongue flickering out to run along Frank’s sprouting fangs and ghosting along the needle-sharp tips.
The second he pulls away, Ray’s strong hands are at his hips to press their chests together and bring him into a starved kiss that feels like he too searches for something; maybe the taste of him mingled with Frank, or a further hint of blood to feed the animalistic side of vampirism that exists for the alleviating sweetness. Gerard wishes he wouldn’t search there, that he would pierce into his flesh with the points of his sharpened teeth and feed from his veins as though he’s been threaded together by ropes of nectar.
Gerard pulls away with a splintered breath, eyes fluttering as Ray’s full lips continue with their travel by trailing across his jaw and settling amorously at his neck to stamp it in open-mouthed kisses making his insides pleasantly twist with each other. Frank wraps his arms around his torso from behind and attacks the other side of his neck with his mouth, lips like silk and a tongue soft as velvet licking a long stripe up the side. Gerard moans, gripping onto Ray.
“Can you still feed from me?” Gerard asks breathlessly.
“We don’t necessarily feed,” Ray explains, voice slightly rough and his teeth grazing Gerard’s terribly sensitive skin. “There’s nothing to gain from what runs through your system, not the same as human blood.”
Gerard makes a displeased sound, head tipping back as Frank pushes his hips forward against his back. “Fuck. I’m gonna miss you two biting me. Maybe I wouldn’t have asked to be changed at all if I knew I’d have to give that up.”
Frank chuckles, kissing Gerard’s shoulder. “We can very well still bite you, my love, that isn’t something we would rob from you if it’s what you want. It supplies you with the same rush which I know is exactly what you crave the most from the experience.”
“Please,” Gerard begs almost immediately and evokes the fondest smiles from his lovers he feels against his skin.
The two of them guide him towards the edge of the pool so there’s support if he finds himself in need of it. Both have him pinned against the tile and concrete wall that’s a stark contrast to the softness of their bodies and touches as they take turns kissing his lips until they feel bruised and reddened from the effort. Gerard tips his head back in offering to them when kisses travel down the column of his throat again, a tiny gasp escaping him at the sound of Frank catching Ray’s mouth in a fleeting but hard kiss during their pursuit. He holds onto the both of them, though the only thing he thinks he should fear slipping away is his sanity as he knows it when they mutually agree to tease by scraping along his delicate skin with the points of their fangs, tongues soft soothing over the paths even though no skin has been split.
“Sometimes I think I’ll miss it too,” Frank breathes against his throat. “Spreading your legs wide open and searching for the place where you’re warmest to sink my teeth into it. Fuck, no one has tasted as sweet as you, Gerard, it’s almost a pity to think it’s all gone, but the one thing I’m thankful for is still having the chance to make you writhe the instant I get my mouth on you.”
“We still can.” Ray runs his hands over Gerard’s heaving ribcage and up to teasingly brush his nipple. “Just like when we changed him, my dear, both of us each claiming a piece of him while he comes undone. It’ll last so much longer this time with his quick regeneration, just think of all the ways we can drive him wild in one single night— I know you’re dying to have his cock in your pretty mouth. Just as I’ve been dying to watch you take every inch of it.”
Gerard tips his hips forward by instinct, burning on the inside. “Fuck. Someone needs to bite me now , I can’t— I can’t wait any longer. I need you.”
Without any further preamble, Ray takes the liberty of sinking his teeth in first. The skin splits beneath a momentary blinding pain of the fangs digging in, but it passes with the immediate flood of euphoria flushing through his system. This isn’t quite the same, not like when he was human— it’s better because he can only gain from this.
Frank follows, settling on a spot right where the shoulder meets the curve of the neck. It’s sensitive there and Gerard cries out at the feeling, but the explosion of pleasure is undoubtedly a more skilled warrior in the battle between it and pain. It exults its triumph by overtaking Gerard’s body wholly and dragging him from the earth to a place unseen by humankind. He’s blissed out of his mind, venom as powerful as any drug with addictive properties, but it’s only ever sweet where many substances are otherwise. He blinks his eyes open against moonlight and hazily thinks he feels as celestial as the body hung in the sky, clear and bright, worshiped by all. Except the population in his world consists of his two lovers lapping at the leaking wounds they’ve torn open and fulfilling his every wish with their teeth alone.
“Such beauty,” Frank whispers as he runs his hand along Gerard’s body and brings his fingers to knit through the hair at the back of his head to guide it back down for their eyes to meet. Ray brings his teeth to the inside of his wrist, biting down and evoking a shaking moan from Gerard. “I’ve wondered before how it might feel if you were to bite me in return.”
Gerard’s teeth ache to the roots at the mere thought. As his imagination takes a quick route to painting a vivid picture, the temptation proves itself too much as Frank leans forward to lick at the points of his teeth so the sharpness shallowly cuts through the first thin layer of his tender tongue and creates a scrape that rapidly heals. Gerard licks at it, then bites down on Frank’s soft lower lip, eliciting another bead of venomous blood to feel it thinly coat his tongue. His eyes roll back when he feels Ray soothing a wound shut and allowing his veins to seal with the leftover venom rushing through his system to preserve the unending high surging through every particle of his being. He salivates the nearer Frank gets, one hand anchoring at the back of his neck, drawing him in to drag feathery lips across his nape until Frank loosens in a beautiful surrender to his allure.
Gerard’s fangs sink into the most vulnerable part of Frank’s neck effortlessly as if he were made of a delicate substance. The burst of blood is particularly unexpected, but welcome as Frank lets out a little shout and presses forward, grappling onto any part of Gerard he can reach. Gerard groans at the stream of heated blood, but doesn’t partake in it as he would an ordinary meal with the knowledge biting in this form isn’t with the same intent as if Frank were human. He warms internally to feel Frank tremble and moan. His arms curl around Frank’s slender waist to keep him stable.
His eyes snap open, finding Ray watching them ardently. Gerard raises a hand, beckoning him forward, releasing Frank’s throat from the hooked anchor of his teeth. A trickle of blood falls from the puncture wounds and consequently entices Ray and his gleaming red eyes so like the body of water surrounding them. Ray holds Frank so gently as he pulls his delirious lover to him, back to chest, tongue lapping up the blood escaping from him a mere moment before he too takes his dose of blissful poison by sinking his teeth into Frank’s flesh. Frank gasps brokenly, a moan following it, his head falling back onto Ray’s shoulder and his hand clutching desperately at the steely arm resting across his chest.
Gerard watches them as he spirals in ecstasy. His eyes languorously follow Ray’s hand tracking down Frank’s smooth torso and slipping beneath the waistband of his boxers to curl around his cock and bring two overpowering pleasures to Frank’s body. He writhes, mouth red and obscene, fangs stained in Gerard’s blood. Gerard does nothing to please himself; he watches in a state of wonder as Ray’s teeth escape from the wound in Frank’s neck so he can mutter litanies of filth into his ear, strings of praise like ropes of pearls resting so stunning around the both of them like an unbreakable tether. Gerard feels it fastening around him as he gravitates towards them, trailing fingers slick with water over Frank’s obscene mouth to collect the remnants of his blood and raise them to Ray’s mouth. Ray watches through heavy-lidded eyes as he sucks Gerard’s fingers into his mouth, tongue swirling around the pads just at the exact moment he brings Frank off with his hand.
Frank collapses into Gerard’s awaiting embrace the instant it’s over. Gerard strokes his hair in a comforting motion as he counts every ragged breath tunneling through his body, every moment the tickle of his lashes appear at his skin when he sluggishly blinks trying to recover. He smirks at Ray from over his shoulder who revels in the self-satisfaction of having a part in Frank’s undoing. Also Gerard’s despite there being no overtly sexual things done to him, though he counts the rush of the bite itself as sex— sex amplified by a thousand. Unattainable through physicality alone.
“If a mortal death evades me, then I’m certain you two will be the death of me.” Frank mutters into Gerard’s shoulder. It pulls a laugh from them, a nearly abrupt sound in the peace of the night and after the obscenity the moon witnessed.
When recovery turns to serene tiredness, the three of them resurface from the pool, making light jokes about how necessary it will be to drain and refill the water since they hadn’t given much thought to the fact they’d be soiling it with their activities. Gerard feels a whirlpool of lingering warmth coiled at the pit of his stomach and twisting rapidly each time his tongue brushes the points of his teeth that have yet to return to normal or any time he feels someone’s gaze lingering on him for longer than a second. They retreat to the massive bath placed in the washroom, a cavernous space that easily fits their bodies as Gerard brings Frank against his chest and between his legs, his own back plastered against Ray’s chest.
The warm water is similar to the pool, only hotter. His lids flutter under the careful ministrations of soothing fingers lathering his hair in shampoo that’s softly scented in a smoky vanilla scent, tinged in tangy blood orange. As Ray washes his hair, Gerard takes the time to gently scrub away traces of ink staining Frank’s fingertips due to his resolve to keep writing with a quill for old time’s sake, finding pens too dull to entertain. He thinks of how precious these hands are to him, both pairs surrounding him with their attentiveness and equal need for nourishment on his part. He thinks of Frank’s palms and how perfectly they align with Ray’s, maybe even more perfectly than they’d ever fit with Gerard’s. Could he fit there if he attempted it? His hand resting between theirs, or would it appear like a displaced object wedged between a fated union? Or is it possible he could, but only temporarily before it appears forced?
Something heavy brings him down as though he filled his pockets with stones before stepping into the water. It’s cruel of it to make an appearance at such a peaceful time, though it isn’t unfamiliar. Gerard would like for it to someday become an uninvited stranger he can shun at the door and seal off from the home of his body and mind.
“Will it always be like this?” Gerard’s soft whisper breaks the comfortable silence curling through the room like the steam rising from the bathwater.
“I should hope so,” Ray answers just as quietly, that much is deserved for a sacred subject. “I’ll do everything in my power to ensure nothing changes. But I have no reason to believe anything could.”
Gerard rinses Frank’s hand as it curls around his own, their interlaced fingers sinking beneath the water slowly. He leans forward until his head rests against the side of Frank’s, eyes slipping shut. “Sometimes I worry. And it’s childish because there’s nothing either of you have done to make me feel this way, it’s just a stupid temporary thought I have sometimes.”
“What troubles you?” Frank asks, squeezing his hand.
Gerard swallows. Water drips from his hair as Ray rinses out the shampoo and he waits until he finishes before he speaks.
“I worry that I might be an infatuation,” Gerard winces. “It’s so fucking stupid because you turned me, I’m here with you and I’m sure you very well knew what it would mean to make me into one of your kind. That this isn’t a mistake you can afford to make. I know how I feel about you both and despite all these reassurances I have, it’s like some old human part of me refuses to let me be fully content with everything I have, and maybe it’s a habit I’m holding onto from going my whole life barely feeling satisfied with anything I did or feeling like no one was ever completely happy with me . This is something I’ve never had before— evidently. It’s the only thing that’s finally made me feel complete. I don’t ever want to lose it, but I have no control if you change your mind about me no matter how deep into the future it may be. ”
“Sweet angel,” Ray says heartbreakingly sadly, and Frank twists around to face Gerard, pressing the gentlest kiss to the corner of his mouth. “You’re right in assuming we knew the meaning of turning you. We discussed it and had our troubles, that we’ve openly shared with you— but neither of us have ever doubted the depth of our longing for you. Infatuation is a word that cannot even scrape the surface of it. All meaning of life as a whole can lose luster in the time being immortal takes up . . . and it’s more than rare to find anything that revitalizes it. I wish you knew it’s difficult to even grasp how much this love has grown in so little time.”
Gerard opens his eyes and finds Frank’s compassionate gaze settled heavy on him, unyielding. He feels Ray embrace him tightly from where he’s seated and Gerard is completely pinned between them, devoured by them, but it’s only a glorious feeling rather than something that should incite fear.
“I would no longer be myself if I one day met your eyes and didn’t acknowledge you as someone I love,” Frank adds on tenderly. “It’s true Ray and I have been together for so long, which is all the more reason why we would be cautious with the utmost extremity before indulging in another. No, let me correct myself— you, my dear, are no indulgence of ours. You are an entire new world we wished to inhabit the moment your mere shadow fell upon our doorstep. If we crave humanity, if we seek art, we look to you and find it there. We would be fools to ever let that go.”
Gerard’s eyes tingle and warm with the threat of tears. “I just don’t think I know how to let myself be loved without doubting myself.”
“Then we’ll teach you,” Frank cups Gerard’s face in his hands delicately like mother nature cupping her palms around a fragile bird of her creation. “Sometimes the solution is as simple as that.”
“We would only let you go if one day you hunger for more out of this new life.” Ray strokes Gerard’s hair.
“No,” Gerard says quickly with a thickened throat. He could burst with the tide of pure love washing through him. Breathing in shakily, he takes Frank’s hand and brings it to his lips, repeating the motion with Ray’s. “I could never ask for more. What you two have given me . . . It’s a pure work of art. And you’ve made me the entire fucking canvas. I’ve never felt more beautiful in my life. I’ll never be able to tell you how thankful I am for that.”
“Don’t tell us then,” Frank brushes their noses together, forehead resting against Gerard’s. “Just love us.”
A request granted before it was forged into existence. Gerard kisses Frank deeply, but shortly so the rest of his outpour of affection goes into the tight embrace he envelopes him in, pulling them deeper into Ray’s arms that wrap around them. Like this, it feels like the three of them truly are absorbing one another; flesh to flesh and bone to bone. Every fissure in Gerard’s soul seals like ancient rivers bled dry are suddenly finding their revival in a blessed rainfall kissing the vacancy in the parched earth.
Scarlet Fields manor sleeps peacefully that night. No signs of unbidden disturbance in the gardens or the leaves on thriving plants, and so it shall remain that way as long as Gerard is there to make the flowers bloom.