Chapter 8.5: Laughter Is Contagious

The morning came and went, little information gained the night before, and today was their last day, little progress made in finding a cure for vampirism.

As Momo arrived in Norway, Carlos and Gabriel prepared for the fight of their lives. Carlos was not special compared to his siblings, but he skimmed the book that Gio had given Gabriel and him, and it screamed magic.

Carlos saw it as quite scandalous that the very same man that claimed that he was blessed by God and called him a savage was using the devil's juice.

Carlos drank four of his own "juice boxes", Gabriel twelve, and he took a backpack and filled it up with more. They didn't know what they could use as armor around the hotel, so they decided that it would be best to just stay back if anything happened, and let the Disciples take care of it.

They were positive that they would show up.

They had to, why else would Gio mention it?

Full of nerves they set off for Stull Cemetery around 11 PM, thinking it would be enough time to get there by midnight. The town was not that large, the influx of people was what made it seem so.

A riot was in full swing, the police officers looking like soldiers, now not only defending the cemetery but local businesses, houses, and citizens. The party had turned into something chaotic, once someone got onto the top of a van and screamed about the stifling of free speech when he was not allowed to spray paint the sidewalk with the words SATAN LIVES because the officer nearby told him that would be defacing public property.

Never mind that he wasn't arrested, instead warned, and he was free to complain about his lack of free speech on top of a van he did not own, in a town he did not live in while standing in only his briefs while drunk on tequila.

Gabriel and Carlos, the friendly neighborhood vampires stood outside their hotel as a man ran through the streets on fire, people screaming, and an officer chased after them with a fire extinguisher.

SWAT trucks rolled down the street warning that a curfew was now in place.

Gabriel got out his phone and started messaging someone as they walked through the chaos, avoiding the looters and rioters. Carlos found it impressive that his eyes never left his phone as he stepped to the side, avoiding a drunken man hollering and carrying away an expensive television without batting an eye.

"Are you okay," Carlos asked.

"Not a lot seems to bother me anymore after October," Gabriel sighed.

"Who are you even messaging?"

"The woman from yesterday, Savannah, to see if she's all right. She seemed nice."

A loud scream. The smell of smoke. They turned a corner, and a flashbang went off, the crowd ran like roaches, the light turned on at night. It was the middle of the night, yet the sky was tinted red from the various fires, and the orange streetlights added to the strange glow.

"Maybe we should go," Gabriel whispered, looking up for the first time from his phone.

"If we leave, then we might lose a clue to a cure."

"We can't become human if we die."

"Gabriel I'm so sorry, but for the first time, I want to be selfish, after doing nothing but worrying about you."

Gabriel was put on the spot, and Carlos felt bad that he was manipulating him, but not that bad, and it worked, so they marched forth towards the cemetery, making their way through the surreal chaos.

The barricade outside of the cemetery had been broken, and people were inside, dancing and chanting, a bonfire in full swing, a few minutes until midnight, when the Spring Solstice began.

A few astrals were fighting the police, well, bullying the police.

The astrals that had broken the fence and blockade were now dressed as the officers, having stolen their clothing and leaving them in nothing but their underpants, handcuffing them to each other, playing with the siren in the cars, shooting into the air, doing doughnuts in the parking lot, and yelling out that they love a man in uniform.

"Why is it that every time you astrals all get into a group, everything gets so weird, " Carlos asked.

"The same happens with our siblings when there are too many of us in one place," Gabriel replied.

"That...might mean something…"

"No. Let's not think about it."

They ignored the officer's cries for help as they ran into the cemetery, where the party was going on. It was three minutes to midnight, and the SWAT team was closing in on the center, the flames feeling hotter and hotter, the screaming and shouting getting louder and louder.

Gabriel was pulled by the strap on his backpack and growled, turning to see the offender as none other than Gio Placido. He wore a brown baseball cap, a black shirt, and green shorts with green sneakers, blending in with the crowd, and his handsome face looked like it had eaten something nasty when he looked at Gabriel.

He tried to hide his disgust, but it was too late, and Gabriel growled at him, drool dribbling down his mouth.

"Carlos, let me eat him," Gabriel asked.

"I'm considering it, especially since you put our lives in danger and didn't hold up our end of the bargain," Carlos hissed.

"It was a test drive, and you failed," Gio replied. "That's all it was."

"There was nothing to pass or fail was there," Carlos asked. "You wanted something to happen, and it did, maybe it didn't, and now you're done with us."

Gio's pale blue eyes looked right through him because he didn't think he had to explain himself to a monster.

A little melodic tune went off from someone's watch and a loud cheer erupted from the crowd.

"He has risen!"

It was midnight.

"How foul and perverse," Gio spat. "Taking his name in vain. "

For once it was something they could all agree on.

The cheers all stopped, the bonfire went out, and loud groans erupted from the crowd. Someone assumed another astral was playing a prank, because the flame erupted again, now black and blue, and they all started dancing again, laughing and giggling, gyrating and undressing.

A shiver went down Carlos and Gabriel's spine as the air shifted around them, and they started to laugh .

Everything was so delightful. It was just a small grin, and then Carlos gave Gabriel a bashful glance, and they both didn't understand what was happening, just that something wonderful was going to happen.

They started giggling, high on something, and Gio was again uncomfortable as the unnatural beings with their unnatural bond started laughing and holding their stomachs, shrugging and blubbering, as if there was some kind of joke, something funny, about the world burning around them.

"Carlos, Carlos this hurts, " Gabriel laughed. "Why does this hurt?"

"I don't know. I can't make it stop. Please make it stop!"

They fell to the ground, laughing and giggling, and Gio saw from their tears that their laughter started to sound more like shrieks of pain, and the people around him started to laugh as well, mass hysteria run amok.

His own partners in disguise were affected by the maleficent curse, the entire town was, and everyone laughed, the ground shook, the trees swayed with mirth because everything was so delightful as fumes and ash swirled in the sky.

They all passed out, one by one from their laughter, leaving Gio the only one awake in the town. He glanced around nervously and cautiously walked through the graveyard with people laid all around it in strange positions.