True Shame
Chapter 2: So Much for the Afterglow
12 years later...
Vampires were real.
They'd been around as long as normal humans, living in secret for fear of behind hunted. Humans would fear them, for good reason. Vampires drank human blood. It was a necessity. For centuries it had been a necessity of the vampire life. Until now. A few years back, a team of scientist in England discovered a way to make synthetic blood. Humans no longer had reason to fear vampires if vampires didn't have to feed on them. This fake blood could sustain a vampire for the rest of its unnatural lifespan. The synthetic blood, bottled and labeled as SynBlood, was being mass produced worldwide. And the vampires were free to 'come out of the coffin,' so to speak.
The Gallagher pod knew about that for years. They'd been hiding from vampires for centuries. Faeries had nearly been wiped out of existence, near extinction. Hunted for their enchanting and intoxicating blood. It had weird affects on vampires. If there were any real faeries left, they were deep in hiding. Only half breeds, like those in the Gallagher pod that inherited the gene were left. And those families, all except the Gallaghers, kept themselves hidden. And far from any rumored vampire clans.
But the current head of the Gallagher pod wasn't the brightest faerie. He was probably the dimmest that had ever had the light. His worst mistake was not telling his pod exactly why vampires were bad and why there were so few faeries left. He knew. Of course he did. The knowledge had been passed down through the family. Frank's mother had been the one to tell him, one night when she was teaching him how to make meth in the basement. Frank had been nine. And he'd just presented. The gene was slow in him, his mother said. Her father had it, her little sister, too. Both shown the signs much earlier than nine. But Frank didn't pass any of it along. He never fully explained what the fae where, what they were capable of doing. He didn't share the heritage and the legends. He didn't tell his kids the deal that was made centuries ago with the Milkovich vampire clan. And then the second deal made when Frank's first child was born.
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She looked down at her younger brother. One of her younger brothers. She had too many to count now. And who knew how many more could be out there. But this one in particular kept her up nights, fearing he'd be discovered. Sometimes she'd wake up, the whole night riddled with nightmares, and she'd run to her brothers' room just to make sure he was okay. There'd been few nights since he first lit, all those years ago, that she actually slept well. She'd dropped out of high school because of it. She started failing everything because of the worry. Their mom, Monica, took off as soon as their youngest sibling, Liam, was born. Frank was home even less now. Everything had been thrust upon the twenty year old. She was responsible for keeping Ian safe.
"Don't put that shit on me!" Ian snapped, shaking his head and waving his hands. "I didn't ask for this!" His voice rose.
Fiona's eyes narrowed into a glare. She pushed past Ian, moving into the kitchen. "Stay out of my head, Ian!"
"Believe me." Ian sneered. "I don't wanna be anywhere near that." He turned, his eyes following her as she moved around the kitchen. He moved to follow her, he wasn't done with their argument, when he was cut off.
Another younger brother, Carl, blocked Ian's way. There was a mischievous grin on the nine year old's face. "What am I thinking right now, Ian?"
Ian didn't even have to try with Carl. The kid's thoughts were always loud. And always the same thing. Images of boobs flashed in Ian's mind. Many, many boobs. Different sizes and colors and... shapes... Ian grimaced and suppressed a shiver. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Carl!" He snapped, pushing the smaller kid away gently. Ian tried his hardest to block out Carl's thoughts. The endless parade of boobs was not something Ian wanted to see. At all hours of the day. And night. And then day again. If Carl was this bad before puberty really set in, Ian didn't want to see inside Carl's head when it actually did.
Lip walked towards the two, rolling his eyes. "Let me guess." He said, reaching for Carl. He pulled his younger brother against him. Carl frowned and tried to squirm out of his hold but Lip held tight. "Boobs." The oldest brother said, smiling.
Ian sighed as he nodded at Lip. Lip understood. Lip was the only one in the family that Ian had told he was gay. Well... it wasn't so much as told... as it was that Lip found a hidden magazine and then confronted him. And then got his sort of girlfriend to give Ian a very unsuccessful blowjob. Yeah. Ian was very gay.
Lip smiled as he pulled Carl into the living room with him. "Leave the faerie alone." Lip glanced back at Ian, a smirk on his lips. It was a half joke, half dig on Ian. One that Lip said with love and shit, like a big brother picking on his little brother. Ian didn't have to read Lip's mind to know this. As with all his siblings, he tried his hardest to keep out of their heads. Family respect and privacy and shit. And he knew Lip would never out him to their family.
Fiona spun around and stalked back towards the living room, pushing past Ian. "Oh no. No F word in this house." She said sternly, her hands on her hips.
Lip pushed Carl roughly on the couch and then sunk down right on top of him, pinning him in place. Carl flailed a bit in vain and tried to push Lip off. Lip didn't budge as he looked up at Fiona. "I was just joking." He said.
Fiona shook her head again, her eyes wide. "No." She snapped, waving her arms in front of her. "No, no, no, no! No F word ever. Ever!" She repeated, punctuating the word.
"Frank's not here." Lip snapped back.
"He could be." She countered.
Lip rolled his eyes again. "Do you fuckin' see him?"
"Doesn't matter." Fiona shook her head again. "He could walk in any minute."
Lip let out a sharp laugh. "Yeah. Sure, Fi." He stood up, finally letting Carl go. The nine year old darted away and flipped Lip off as he ran up the stairs. "Love you, too!" Lip called after him.
"Fiona, it's fine." Ian started to say.
Fiona didn't let him say anything else. She spun around towards him and shook her head. "No, it's not okay. You have to be careful! We all have to be careful. Frank can't know."
Ian rolled his eyes. It was the mantra that had been on repeat in the house since he could remember. He was pretty sure his first words were 'don't tell dad'. "Yeah, you keep saying that." He mumbled under his breath.
"Dad can't know what?" A voice popped up from the top of the stairs. The youngest sister, Debbie, came skipping down the stairs. She jumped the last few and landed at the bottom. Then she turned and looked around the room. She frowned, catching the atmosphere. "What happen? Something wrong with daddy?"
"I said faerie." Lip said, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.
Ian nodded, like he was agreeing with Lip that it wasn't a big deal. "Fiona freaked out."
"I'm not freaking out!" Fiona snapped.
"Why can't Frank know, huh?" Ian asked, his voice rising a bit. "Why, Fi? Why are you so terrified if Frank knows about this?" Ian lifted his hand. He wiggled his fingers. Long, thin white sparks erupted from his fingertips. They looked like tiny lightning strikes, dancing in the air.
Fiona let out a gasp at the same time that Debbie exclaimed, "Cool!" She raced closer to him and grabbed his hand when he held it out to her. The light stopped before she touched him. She pulled his fingers again and the tips from his nails to his first knuckles glowed. "When did you learn that?"
Ian shrugged. "Couple weeks ago. During that big storm. Just kinda..." He tilted his head. "Happened."
"Cool!" She breathed out. She smiled as she let go of his hand. "Warm."
"Frank can't know." Fiona said, her voice barely a whisper. She honestly looked and sounded terrified.
Debbie turned to look at her. "Why?"
Fiona looked down at her and blinked. "Because Frank wants one of us to be a faerie."
"So?" The younger girl asked.
"Frank is a selfish, self-absorbed asshole who only takes care of himself." Debbie frowned, looking like she wanted to argue but Fiona continued. "He really wants a faerie, Debs. That's all he ever talks about. Needing another faerie around."
Ian shrugged. "Maybe cuz he can't light anymore." Ian honestly had no clue. He'd been thinking about it a lot, though, over the years. Trying to figure out exactly what Frank's deal was. To Ian, the light felt like energy. Like a pool of energy swirling around inside him. Sometimes, if he didn't use it in some way, it felt like it was getting backed up, like clogging his soul or something. He'd never told any of his siblings that. It was too hard to explain. He just knew that sometimes, he had to let his light out. And he wondered if somehow, he was meant to give it to Frank. Frank lost his light somehow and he needed Ian to get it back. At least, that's all Ian could come up with.
"Maybe." Fiona agreed with a shrug, oblivious to Ian's real inner monologue. "But I have a feeling it's something more. And I think it's something bad. Really bad." She stressed the words. "We all have to keep the secret. We all have to protect Ian..."
Ian rolled his eyes and dropped his arms. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" He snapped.
"Ian..."
"No!" He snapped again, throwing up his arms. "I didn't ask for this!"
"Well you got it!" Fiona said. "And you're not leaving the house alone."
That's what started the whole fight. Ian had been called by the owner of a local convenience store, Kash and Grab. He'd applied yesterday when he and Lip were there getting diapers for their baby brother Liam. Lip had a job tutoring and doing some S.A.T. scam. Debbie babysat during the school year and did full daycare during the summer with very little supervision from Fiona. Carl did whatever Carl did to get money. And Fiona worked like 10 jobs. Hell, even Frank sometimes showed up and they could either convince him to hand over a few bucks or just steal it off him when he passed out.
But Ian was pretty much confined to the house when he wasn't at school or ROTC and everyone else was out. He wasn't allowed out of the house unless he was with one of the others. Ian wanted to help. He wanted a job, a couple hours after or before school, so he could earn some money. The legal way. The job was his, the owner Kash said. Plus, there was the added bonus that Kash was hot and kept smiling at him weirdly. Fiona shot him down immediately. She didn't even give him a chance to explain why or tell her she was suffocating him.
"Ever!" She continued. "Upstairs! You're grounded. Do your homework!"
Ian's eyes widened. "Fi..."
"Now!" She snapped. "You do as you're told!"
Debbie and Lip seemed to be shocked into silence but thoughts were thrown at Ian from every direction. Too many at once and he was too worked up to block them.
Not fair!
Trying to protect him.
He didn't do anything!
Fucking bitch.
She's overreacting!
Trying to keep him safe.
Glad I'm not a faerie.
Dad wouldn't hurt Ian!
BOOBS!
The voices meshed together and made his head hurt. It happened sometimes. When emotions were high. He bent forward a bit, tucking his chin into his chest. He closed his eyes and threaded his fingers in his short hair. "SHUT UP!" He yelled. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
"Ian..." Debbie moved to touch him again. Ian jumped back. Then turned and ran through the kitchen and up the stairs. There were tears in Debbie's eyes as the silence lingered on for a minute. "I forget sometimes..." She said softly. "That when it's quiet for us... it's loudest for him..."
Fiona smiled sadly, her eyes wet as well. She held open her arms and Debbie stepped into them. "He knows." Fiona said softly, hugging Debbie to her and patting her head. "Deep down, he knows we're all just trying to keep him safe. He knows we love him."
Lip stood across the room. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and he rocked back on his heels. He'd said nothing since Debbie came downstairs.
Fiona watched him for a moment. And for that single moment, she wished she could read minds like Ian. To know what Lip was thinking. What he really thought about her. If she was too mean or too strict. But there had to be a reason. Frank wanted his kids to get the faerie gene. There just had to be some reason. And there was no one to ask. There weren't any other faeries. Frank had said so. Fiona didn't believe him, of course. But they'd never met another one. There was a good chance they were just hiding. Up until the vampires went public, all former supernatural being kept themselves hidden. At least Fiona assumed so. She knew exactly four. Her dad and Ian; the faeries. And their neighbors and best friends. Veronica the witch and Kevin the werewolf.
Lip caught Fiona's gaze and shrugged. "I'll go check on him."
"Thank you." She said and pulled away from Debbie. "Debs, you wanna go get Liam out of his high chair and get him ready for his bath?"
Lip was halfway up the stairs, his sisters' voices fading in his ears. He pushed the door to the room he shared with his brothers open.
Carl was on his bed, cutting the leg off a naked Barbie he'd stolen from Debbie with a pocket knife. "Don't sit on me again!" The kid said, dropping the knife on the bed.
Lip ignored him and looked at Ian's empty bed. "Where's Ian?"
Carl shrugged.
"He come up here?"
Carl shook his head. "Nope."
Lips eyes widened. "Shit."
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Author's Notes: Mickey will appeareth next chapter! 8D