I can't help it. I just love the cliffhangers. Keeps you coming back for more! Thanks so much for the reviews to those lovely and dedicated readers.

Now comes the fun part.

The Truce 16

Charley had spent the rest of his weekend at Peter's recovering and it was now the night before he was expected back at school. His broken bones and bruises had faded hours ago and he felt like he was better then ever. He liked how strong and energetic he felt, even if it was because of the temporary vampirism. It was amazing to hardly be out of energy. But he wouldn't tell that to them. He didn't care, he was no longer physically suffering and he had to keep moving around. A lot more of his warmth returned to his skin, but he was still noticeably paler then he should have been. And he had no idea if he would even gain anymore color.

Peter had offered to let him borrow his stage make up to hide it for school after Charley refused to skip. The magician figured this was the boy's way to get free and escape to something normal. He felt bad, that he had to witness this happen and not being able to really do anything about it. So understanding that he had urged the teen to go back home and go to school, wanting him to recover fully from all of this. Plus that way he could get away from Jerry for more then a few hours. The only major worry they had was Charley having to explain the changes to his mother, or anyone else who noticed. He said he would handle it, but Charley secretly decided to ask Jerry how to hide them.

The weird thing was that it was kind of depressing around Jerry now. He tried to have a few conversations during the day but he just sat on the bed with his arms crossed and a blank stare at his feet. Never leaving, or saying a word. It almost looked like he was pouting. Making him wonder why such a creature as Jerry would be pouting. Was it because of what he said the other day? Or maybe because of yesterday morning. He already figured out that Jerry was becoming more possessive of himself and Peter.

Charley was pretty sure it had to do with him, ever since Jerry told him to walk into the sunlight yesterday. Which he did reluctantly with fear and Jerry's helpful shove, only to find he survived unharmed by the light. Charley was furious for a little while, not believing Jerry could have killed him.

Normally the vampire would have changed the subject and started picking on the two of them, but instead Jerry turned away while instructing the teen to sleep and went to the spare room. Hiding away all day.

Charley slept all of Saturday, and by Sunday evening he was feeling like he was waking from the most incredible sleep ever. Well rested and ready to go, and apparently Jerry hadn't moved at all during his thirty nine hour coma.

Something had to be wrong. Nobody, human or something else, just sits in one place and doesn't move without reason.

At the present moment, Peter was gone for the evening and performing his 'Fright Night'. Which left Charley and the brooding vampire alone for a few hours. Two possible outcomes, one being a good one and the other could go wrong. But he would ensure that it wouldn't blow up in his face. Making his way to the spare room quickly, figuring he should go and bother the vampire again for the sixth time since he's been up.

"Sup?"

Standing beside Jerry and poking at his shoulder every few moments, repeating the question.

"Hello? Are you there? Should I stick a post-it on your face with a message or something?" He asked as he poked his shoulder. Jerry sat back and smacked the boy's hand roughly and shot him a glare. Charley stepped back with a shake of his hand.

"Ow! Dude, what's your problem?" He asked. Not getting an answer. He started making annoying popping sounds with his lips, trying to get the vampires attention in the most childish ways after normal words didn't have an effect.

But he was running out of ideas. So he climbed onto the bed and started bouncing. Grinning as the vampire shook and looked at him with an annoyed scowl.

"Jerry!" He kept repeating as he jumped, hoping that by him being annoying would at least show something from the vampire other then being a grump. But Jerry still didn't move, except for a frown forming on his face as he looked away. Charley stopped bouncing and leaned over looking at him with a small frown. Waving a hand out in front of him and then huffed as his attempts failed again.

"Really? Your actually just going to sit there? What's your issue?" Charley asked disbelieving, and shook his head as he was completely ignored.

"If you don't start talking, I'm only going to get more annoying." The teen warned.

Crossing him arms for a moment then dropped to his knees, thinking how exactly he could be annoying, prodding at his teeth again as he brainstormed. Also wondering if he should risk pissing him off since he looked like someone stole his cookie. But he had quite a bit to explain and he wasn't going to get off that easy the teen figured. Brooding or not.

Charley looked around the room while boredly clapping his hands together frequently. Glancing at the vampire then to a pillow that was in the middle of them as he grinned to himself. The teen took a breath and grabbed the pillow quickly, fluffing it up slowly as he whistled.

"Are you really going to ignore me? Because if you are, that's rude and I'll start singing the song that never ends. I'm sure you know how annoying that song is." He said again, and clutched the pillow against his chest. Giving the vampire a curious look as he waited for an answer. Still nothing. Charley scoffed and rolled his eyes. Dropping his eyes to the bed as he started fluffing the pillow again, huffing in a manner that meant he was going to do something.

"If you're mad or whatever for what I said the other day, I'm sorry. But in reality I'm not. Look, I really need your help with this. Its your fault I'm like this in the first place, you dick." He said, and leaned forward slightly seeing Jerry's frown faded a little. The teen smirked a little and sat straight.

"But if you don't stop being a depressing statue thing like you are right now, I'm going to do something so childish that it will probably, most definitely make you mad." He said stressing the point as he stood up and bounced lightly on the mattress. Jerry looked up at him for a moment in thought, then looked away with a loud breath.

An annoyed look crept over Jerry's face. Wanting to be alone with his thoughts, but the sun wasn't down far enough to leave here, and he didn't really want to leave Charley's side just yet. The teen raised his brows and blinked. Wondering what exactly was on the creatures mind to make him block everything out for this long.

"Okay then. Can't say I didn't warn you." He said finally and swung the pillow in his hands as fast as he could towards him. Jerry ducked easily and snatched Charley's ankle and pulled roughly, letting out a growl.

The teen fell back surprised, letting out a yelp. Not expecting him to do anything and landed with a grunt on the bed, then suddenly have a tremendous weight pin him down. Blinking as Jerry was sitting on him and hand had clawed hand on his chest, holding him down as he let out a long breath. Most of his eyes were black and had small fangs matching Charley's as he stared down at him.

The teen momentarily felt like he was back on the highway after Jerry blew up his house. He had the same look when he had him pinned against his mom's van. Charley got scared and swallowed as he stared at him, forcing back the urge to tremble beneath him as he held his hands out defensively.

"I'm going to say this once, Charley." Jerry said flatly, whispering the last words. "Shut up."

"Okay." He said quickly, his voice soft with fear.

"Why do you want my help?" Jerry asked as he looked at him carefully, smelling him while he tilted his head. Charley swallowed again and opened his mouth to say something then stopped when Jerry smirked seeing his teeth. Letting out a low growl noticing how the teen avoided eye contact for a minute.

"You're crushing my insides." Charley said finally finding his voice. Jerry moved off of him after a moment and resumed his spot on the bed, giving him a small glare. The teen breathed out before he sat up and cleared his throat, trying to ease his sudden fear.

"God you're heavy." He grumbled, rubbing his stomach.

"Get to the point." The vampire snapped.

"Ok fine. I'm going back to school tomorrow and I want you to teach me how to hide..this." He motioned to himself and looked back at him. Jerry just stared and blinked slowly as he smirked.

"Why can't Peter teach you?" He asked with a little venom. Charley frowned at his tone, not understanding this hostility. He was going to have to force Jerry to do this.

"Peter isn't the one who did this to me. You got me into this mess. And since I'm like this 'cause of you, wouldn't that make me an unofficial member of your tribe? That gives you the obligation to assist me, doesn't it?" He asked, thinking on the spot to con him into it. Stunned by his own genius and casted a quick questioning glance at the vampire.

Jerry looked at his feet again he chuckled lightly. Charley had a point, he figured after a minute of thinking. So Charley wasn't a full vampire, but he might be able to do things like one. Which meant he was going to need an experienced teacher. Which meant he had to teach him. Jerry sighed and closed his eyes for a minute. Surprised that he himself didn't think about that first. The teen looked at him expectantly, wondering if his plan worked or not. Jerry exhaled as he thought of the ending to this. But that was still a little while away.

"Fine. I'll help you. But on one condition." He said with mild defeat. Giving the boy a blank stare as the teen blinked quickly, not expecting him to give in so easily. And conditions from him were always unpredictable.

"What's that? You're not going to make me do anything stupid, are you? And by stupid I mean making me do something you would normally do." Charley said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes and sat straighter.

"Depends. But you have to do something for me when I tell you too. And you can't refuse. Can you do that, guy?" Jerry asked as he sat forward slowly. Charley frowned, confused at the strange request. Wondering what he would want in the future for a minute before he nodded slowly.

"Alright. What exactly do you need to hide?" He asked as he crossed his arms. "And we need to find out what you can and can't do."

"Sounds like fun. Its going to hurt, isn't it." Charley stated rather than asked. If it involved Jerry then it was definitely going to hurt. "But I'm probably going to need to hide it all."

"It's not going to hurt. And I can't teach you all of that in one night Charley. I'm a vampire, not a magician." Jerry said as he stood up and slowly walked around the bed, his eyes never leaving the teen. Charley drew a knee up, laughing lightly at his choice of words and poked at his fanged tooth with his thumb nail.

"How about my teeth?" He asked as he turned towards the vampire. Jerry looked at him and nodded slowly. Disappointed Charley didn't like his fangs, he did though.

"You have to feel them and just think of how they should appear." He said as simply as he could.

Charley blinked at hearing it was much more simpler than he thought. But he didn't quiet understand what 'feel them' meant. He took a breath and looked at him, about to question when Jerry seemed to already know.

"You need to imagine how you want your teeth to appear. Feel the change. It will happen." He said as he gave him a studying stare.

Charley looked at the bed, imagining the change and felt a strange, painless tickle within the two teeth. It burned inside of his gums but ceased just as it happened. He ran his tongue against his teeth and felt the fangs were gone. He grinned and looked at Jerry happily.

"Cool. It worked." He said.

"Of course it did. Now you know how to do that, be warned that when you start to get hungry or thirsty you're fangs will come back. And you won't be able to stop it." The vampire cautioned, looking at the floor.

"And you're eyes. They will most likely change as well. Your eyesight has increased, right?"

Charley nodded slowly.

"Your sense of smell and hearing would have increased too then. Let's put that to the test then shall we?" Jerry smirked as he motioned for Charley to follow.

Charley moved off the bed slowly and moved to the doorway. Stopping when Jerry did. The vampire turned around and looked at him carefully.

"Close your eyes Charley. Listen to every sound around you, hear the buzzing of the electricity. The sounds of water. Do you hear it?" He spoke slowly as the teen stood there watching him.

Charley closed his eyes slowly and listened. At first he only heard the sound of Jerry, then beyond the ringing was the buzzing of the power, then the water in the pipes. He sighed as he started to smile, hearing it was incredible. Then he heard a pounding of a low, deep drum. It seemed to echo along with the whispers of breathing. He nodded slowly as he felt his heart start to beat a little faster for some reason.

"I..I hear a drum.." He said as he kept his eyes closed, being sated by the sound.

"That isn't a drum Charley." Jerry's voice whispered against his ear, standing behind him. Charley jumped away and exhaled loudly.

"Stop doing that!" He snapped hotly.

"I figured you would have heard me move. But it seems you got lost in hearing the beat of my heart, just like a vampire." He said with dark approval. Charley swallowed and looked down, he did nearly get lost in the sound. It was mesmerizing.

"That was your heart?" He asked surprised and slightly disturbed.

"Surprised I have one? Charley. You're so cruel." Jerry teased with a tone he didn't hear very often, the tone that made the teen uneasy at its low purr.

"Just a little.." He said and looked back up. Jerry was gone. He frowned and moved out of the doorway. Wondering where he had suddenly gone to before he figured this was the test.

He looked around as he moved further into the hallway. He heard a faint laugh, emanating from somewhere in the penthouse. He sighed and listened again, straining to hear anything from Jerry. He growled lightly not hearing anything, calling out again. He took a breath and calmed himself as he started walking again. Charley closed his eyes and turned his head as his ears rang loudly for a moment before starting to hear the low, deep echo of the vampires heartbeat on the other side of the penthouse. With his eyes closed he started towards it, frowning as he wondered how he knew where it was coming from. Running his hand along the wall for direction, thinking that if he opened his eyes he wouldn't be able to hear it anymore. Swallowing the lump in his chest as he kept walking towards the pounding sound. Beginning to feel a faint ache in his chest as the pounding grew heavier in his ears. He heard the vampire whisper as he got closer.

"Your hearing is impressive. But your sense of smell needs to be tested. The sweet bitterness in the air Charley, what does it make you want to do?" The vampire cooed darkly as the low pounding moved further away.

Charley slowly opened his eyes as he heard the vampires words. He smelled the air, and indeed there was a sweet bitterness floating around and it drew him in. It smelled so good, but he couldn't stop the small moan that came from his throat. It smelled so delicious, whatever it was.

"What is that?" He asked out loud, his mouth beginning to water and he had to swallow. The ache in his chest became a painless throb, like something was calling out from inside. His pace picked up and he entered the room that was filled with the bitter sweetness.

"You tell me." The vampire's voice commanded watching the teen move into the room from a monitor on Peter's security system. The magicians paranoia had it's useful perks sometimes. Jerry narrowed his eyes as he watched the black and white screen, studying the teens every move.

Charley looked around the room as he entered it. Breathing in again as he casted a careful look around. Looking to every corner nervously thinking that Jerry would sneak up on him and scare him. But there was no sign on him and the haunting smell was near by. Looking at a small table where the smell was coming from, Charley moved closer to it as a worried feeling crept into his body. Beginning to wonder if the smell was what he thought it was.

"Come on man, stop playing around. What am I even looking for?" Charley said to the silence while he looked around the room full of books and a few displays again. Rethinking this impulsive plan.

He turned back to the table and moved towards it with a sigh, searching reluctantly and spotted a wet drop on the table. Curious of whatever it was, but was uneasy about it too. Blinking he reached out towards the drop and rubbed his fingers against it. He stopped immediately seeing a red, shining smear on the tips of his pale digits. Gasping as he started to tremble on the spot, inhaling the powerful sweet bitterness and he had a mild head rush.

The origin of the delicious smell. That was blood. He could smell the blood. He held his breath and turned his eyes away. The throb in his chest made him lean over slightly. Charley pressed his hand against his torso as he turned away and rushed out of the room with a small cry. Feeling his fangs lengthen and his vision increase even more then it had already, if it was possible. Glancing at his fingers and quickly wiped them on his shirt with a breath. He leaned against the wall and tried to calm himself as Jerry appeared in front of him.

"That too much for you?" The vampire teased, glancing to the room then back to Charley.

The teen slowly raised his eyes to Jerry and scowled. The vampire tilted his head and crossed his arms with a smirk. Seeing the teen have black eyes he smiled softly as he looked away. Wishing that Charley really was a vampire now. The traits suited him very well. He licked his lips slowly and his own eyes darkened as he felt threatening vibes come from the boy. Jerry looked towards him again as the teen glared, not understanding why the teen was suddenly hostile.

Charley didn't understand why he was doing it either. But he was so mad all of a sudden. He jumped forward with a yell of anger. Jerry growled as he saw the vampire side take hold of the teen and caught him by the throat as he pushed him against the wall, baring his own fangs giving a quick powerful hiss. The teen groaned in protest as he clamped his hands around the vampires wrist, they stared each other down for a long moment before Charley looked away first. The anger turned to visible submission, his black voids turned to the normal bright green.

"Let go." He demanded weakly as he finally calmed himself down enough to talk and felt the vampire's fingers slowly relax and slip away.

"Seems you don't want my help. I'm sure you can manage on your own or with Peter's help." Jerry said, giving him a slow look and started turning away. Charley stared and suddenly felt the anger again.

"So you're quitting on me?" He asked.

"Yeah."

Charley punched Jerry in the face as hard as he could suddenly and stepped back down the hallway as he instantly regretted it. Rubbing his nose as he closed his eyes, the heavy bitter sweetness over powering his mind again. Letting out a small sound as he shook his head, wanting to block the smell out. Jerry turned towards him again with a stern look after he held down his fury.

"Twice, in one week, you hit me in the face. Twice, you draw my blood. I should have yours." Jerry said flatly, and licked his bloody lip. He took a breath and stepped closer as Charley stepped back fearfully, his eyes never leaving the vampires lips in a small daze.

"You can hit me back if it would make you feel better." He suggested after snapping out of the tiny trance, biting back the fear he felt under his gaze. He hugged the wall as Jerry stared, deciding what to do at the moment.

"No. I think we are done playing school tonight." He said bitterly as he turned away.

Charley swallowed as the vampire stormed away. He breathed out and rubbed his face slowly. So he learned next to nothing from Jerry. The only useful thing he learned was how to hide his teeth. He had no idea when hearing thing or smelling things was going to come in handy so he was annoyed, scared and frustrated at this. The painless throbbing in his chest returned as he breathed in and out slowly.

Looking down the hallway slowly, thinking that this was going to become one of the most fucked up times in his life. But at least Jerry wasn't going to abandon him.

"You don't understand how fucked up this is for me! I'm trying to deal with this as best as I can, but I feel like I'm loosing my mind." He said, his voice cracking. More silence. Charley took a shaky breath as he started to cry silently.

Jerry stood near the broken window, listening to Charley's words. Not wanting to say anything else. This was why he was a solitary being. Being around others was always a hassle, there was always something that he didn't want to deal with. Mainly becoming attached to someone. Being a bringer of blood and death, he knew it wasn't something that is easily accepted. He was becoming soft. Letting the needs of Peter and Charley come before his own was beginning to have an effect that the vampire really didn't want.

Planning to stick this out and decide from there. He sighed slowly as he looked down towards the street below. Missing the silence and darkness of his own home. Taking a slow step back, he moved towards the hallway again.

"Time to take you home." He said softly and slowly pulled Charley to his feet, smirking at how quietly he suffered.

"I need you're help." He repeated softly. Jerry held the teens face for a moment then chuckled.

"Tomorrow. We will try again." He said as he lead Charley from the penthouse.

TBC!