Resurrection

Venice beach was a mixture of flea market, swap meet, board walk, hangout, strip mall and actual beach. Surfers, skaters, hippies, punks, roller bladers, middle aged people with kids, teenagers with tiny dogs and Sidekicks pressed to their faces, life guards, and cops on bikes all enjoyed the balmy weather and clear skies. It was a wild mix of people from all walks of life and it never failed to thrill Ville.

He stopped to examine a blanket full of paper mache skull in the Mexican Day of the Dead style. With a grin to the lady sitting behind the blanket, he bought a black one for himself, a blue one for Davey, a red one for Roxy, green for Jade and pink for Frank. He laughed to himself and went to rejoin his friends as they bought funnel cake from the opposite side of the boardwalk.

"You know, even if it's a total failure, this was fun. Why don't we come down here more often?" he slipped an arm around Davey's waist and leaned into him.

"Because by the time you are done having buttsex, those two start going at it." Frank sneered and jerked his head in the direction of Roxy and Jade.

Roxy hit him in the back of the head, "You know, no one says anything to you when you bring over girls from the sorority next door. Shut the fuck up!"

Ville laughed, "Frankie, give it a rest."

Frank folded his arms across his chest and went to go sit on a bench so he could eat his funnel cake.

"What the fuck is this!?" came screeched from down the boardwalk.

Ville looked over in time to see Frank cringe and try and melt into the bench. He looked over toward the voice to see a deranged hobo launch himself at Frank and tackle him to the ground. Ville was over there in no time at all and dragged him off Frank by the back of his neck, "What the fuck is gong on?"

The crazy man had bright blue eyes and ratty dyed black hair. His shirt was torn at the collar and he wore old flip flops under tattered shorts, "I can't believe you are still alive!"

"No thanks to you." Frank mumbled, standing and brushed powdered sugar off of his shirt, "Guys, this is Bert."

Ville looked at the man squirming in his grip and then back to Frank, then over to everyone else who had gathered around, "This is Bert McCracken?"

"Really?" Roxy pulled Ville with her up the street and into an alley between houses, Ville dragged Bert with them.

Ville let Bert go and unconsciously wiped his hands on his jeans.

Roxy punched Bert in the face, hard enough to break bones, "You son of a fucking whore asshole motherfucker!" she yelled and hit him again, "How fucking dare you make Frankie a vampire and then leave him to die on his own!"

Frank couldn't help but smile.

Bert laughed maniacally and looked up at them with blood pouring down his face, "I can't fucking believe you live!"

"Yeah." Frank rubbed a hand over his head, "Look, we're not here for a reunion."

Bert sighed and wiped his face with his shirt, adding bloodstains to the mess on it, "I see. You heard about her." he heaved another sigh and started to walk up the street motioning for them follow, "By the way, who the fuck are all of you?"

Frank waved at all of them, "Ville Valo, Davey Havok, Roxy Breton and Jade Puget."

"Hey I know you guys!" Bert turned around and put his face right in Davey's, making Ville tense up, "You and him," he pointed at Jade, "are in that band."

"Yeah." Davey nodded and backed away a little.

"And you," Bert moved over to Ville, "were in that one band that Frankie was obsessed with back when we were alive!"

Ville pushed Bert away from him, but couldn't resist. He raised an eyebrow at Frank, "Really? Obsessed?"

Frank blushed and looked at the floor, "I wasn't obsessed."

Bert nodded his head, "Yeah you were. You wore that jacket every day and we all had to hear it every time we hung out, and you dragged me to that one show at the Grove, that sucked," he looked to Ville quickly, "Not you, the situation."

"Frankie! I never knew you cared!" Ville clasped his hands in front of him and batted his eyelashes at Frank.

"Where are we going?" Roxy asked, getting impatient with walking up the hill.

"To my pad. It's more comfortable place to talk because before you go to her, there are things you need to know." Bert said, taking an abrupt right down an alley.

"Who is she?" Ville asked, tossing his cigarette butt in the street before ducking into the alley.

"She's the one who's been unmaking vampires all over the world." Bert grinned, "Tried to undo me too before I figured out what she was talking about." his grin widened, "I was pretty wasted."

Ville couldn't help but wonder how it was that his tiny, and yes hyper, but still sane friend could have possibly been friends with this filthy nutjob. Ever. Bert was clearly unbalanced.

Bert stopped suddenly in front of a two-story house with a postage stamp sized yard littered with beer cans, cigarette butts and other trash. The tiny porch had a big stained and burned, blue couch on it. There was an VW Rabbit rusting in the driveway that looked like the last time it had run, Ville had been human.

"Home sweet home." Bert said with another one of his giggles.

Ville was wondering if he ripped out Bert's throat, would he write down the information they needed? The laugh was getting on his nerves.

Bert grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table next to the couch on the porch and lit one, "Hey Babe, we got visitors."

"Again?" a voice called from in the house. No one noticed that Frank tensed up all over again and clenched his hands at his sides, "Why is it that you are responsible for spreading the word?" the owner of the voice came out on the porch. He was a pale vampire with shiny dyed black hair and kind of honey colored cat eyes.

"Because Gee, it was the only way she'd let me stay a vamp." Bert said, with another giggle.

Ville gritted his teeth.

"Kids, this is Gerard, well actually, Frankie, you already know him." Bert made the introductions before throwing himself down on the couch.

Gerard got even paler and peeked his head around Ville, "F-Frankie?"

"Hey Gee." Frank said quietly, trying to hold back tears.

"You-" Gerard looked at Bert, then back to Frank, "You're still alive?"

"Yeah." Frank looked at his feet and lit a cigarette.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me!" Gerard shouted at Bert, throwing the coffee table at his face.

"Hey!" Bert jumped up to avoid the table, "He told me not to!"

Ville, Roxy, Davey and Jade swung their heads to look at Frank, all wearing similar expressions of shock.

Gerard also turned back to Frank, "Why?"

"I didn't want you to know what I was." Frank glared at Bert, "You couldn't have said something after he turned?

Bert shrugged, "You said not to tell him."

"And this is the one fucking time you listen to me." Frank said with disgust and folded his arms across his chest, "Just tell us where to find this magical person who can make us human again."

Bert sat back down, pulling Gerard with him, "Alright, first you have to go to Vegas."

"What's her name?" Ville asked, trying not to get excited.

"Amanda. Amanda Palmer."

"Thanks." Frank said and turned to leave.

"Hang on!" Bert jumped up, "That's not all! She's not just going to turn you back because you show up and ask her to."

Ville stepped in front of Frank in a protective stance, "So how do we get her to do it?"

"You giver her this." He tossed a coin at Ville.

It was a simple silver disk with an imprint on one side of a circle flanked by crescents and on the other was a circle topped by a crescent.

Ville looked up at Bert, "Why?"

Bert rolled his eyes, "She's weird. Just go to Vegas and when you get there go to the Sleep Inn off of Tropicana. Ask for Benny. He'll tell you what to do."

"Is that all?" at Bert's nod, Ville turned and walked back to the street. The other's followed and they went back to the boardwalk.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ville demanded once they were a good distance from the house. He turned around to ask Frank, but he discovered the man was nowhere to be seen, "Where'd Frank go?”


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so i don't know if the lack of reviews is from my story getting shoved off the front page by all the crap posted on here or jus1t because you don't care, but come on, review? it makes me happy and makes for a better story because it makes me care. review please?
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