Sons of Night

Andy’s POV
*One Week Later*
I looked at myself in the mirror. I was barely recognizable, even to myself. My hair was cut short, shaved on the sides and slicked back. There was a light dusting of makeup across my face that felt heavy and dry. You wouldn’t be able to tell if you didn’t know me that I was wearing any makeup, it was just enough to cover up my blemishes. I was wearing a black suit with a silver tie. The suit covered up most of my tattoos, except for as few that poked up around my collar. I looked at myself in the eye, steadily remembering the speech that I’d been practicing. I was in a bathroom, in the Cincinnati City Council building. I could here the jabber of reporters just upstairs, they had questions, lot’s of them, for me, Mayden and the rest of the guys. Lot’s of them for Tim also.
I stood up and straightened my back and pulled my shoulder blades together. I looked at myself, steadily and confidently just like Reya, my assistant, had taught me. I needed to walk like I was confident, but not conceited. In control, but not controlling. I took a deep breath and looked at myself again, I looked good, different from usual, but good. There was a tap at the bathroom door.
“Yeah?” I called.
“It’s Ash, can I come in?” a familiar voice said.
“Yeah, come on in,” The door swung open and Ashley leaned in. He was wearing a gray suit, with a white shirt, unbuttoned at the top and no tie. His hair was also shorter, though not as much as mine.
“What’s up?” I asked turning to him.
“Just making sure you were okay, you’ve been in here for a while,” He said.
“Yeah, I’m fine I’m just checking myself out,”
“You look great, are you ready for this?”
“As I’ll ever be I suppose, I’ve been practicing,” I said, but Ashley shook his head.
“You know what I mean man, I know you can say your speech and answer questions intelligently, are you emotionally ready for this?” Ashley asked.
“It’s amazing what a week of counselling can do for you, plus I have you guys up there I know if something happens that I can’t deal with for some reason, you guys will be there for me,” I said. Ash nodded.
“Well, you better get out here. We walk on in a couple of minutes,” he said. Then he turned from the door and left. I caught it before it could close and followed him to the stairs that lead to the stage. The rest of the guys were waiting there and so was Mayden. She smiled when she saw me, from her wheelchair of course, both legs were still broken. She was wearing red slacks and a black button up shirt. I walked up and joined the group, Tim was nowhere to be found.
“Well look at our baby brother, looking all grown up!” Jake said, with only a slight edge of mock pride. I arrogantly straightened my collar and everyone laughed. I looked at Mayden.
“Do you like it?” I asked, her opinion was the most important to me.
“You look great,” She said. She reached up and fixed a fold in my jacket. I took the opportunity to lean down and give her a quick kiss on the lips.
“Hey, none of that, we don’t need the people thinking that Andy’s a pedophile as well,” Tim said as he manifested from one of the side hallways. I pulled away from Mayden as her cheeks glowed red. Tim pointed accusingly at Mayden and I, I smirked.
“Are we all ready to go on?” Tim asked. Everyone nodded and I felt a twinge of nervousness flash in my stomach. Mayden grabbed my hand as I took another deep breath, I felt better after that.
“Alright, I’m going to go on first and say a few words, when I’m done you all will come on and sit down, Andy speaks first and we go on through, Mayden is last,” Tim said making eye contact with each of us as he spoke.
“Got it,” I said, trying to keep the nerves out of my voice. Tim looked around at the rest of us.
“You all look great, they’ll love you,” Tim said. He turned and walked to the stage. As soon as he entered the view of the reporters their quiet buzz turned into a thunderous roar. It took Tim a few minutes to get them to quiet down enough to explain the rules. We each had short speeches to give and after we all would take questions, but nothing about our previous crimes. Any of those questions were to be ignored.Then Tim started sounding like a used car salesman again.
“These boys have caught a criminal, one that was killing dozens of young girls, and the police didn’t even have a suspect list. These boys are smart, strong and not at all threats to society. They’ve come here today to answer questions about how they caught Schrock and the events that lead up to it, and here they come to the stage now!” Tim said. He stretched an arm towards my end of the stage and I guessed that was my cue. Without my approval my legs started moving. I felt like a ghost as I drifted up onto the stage. Camera lights flashed, but I wasn’t afraid. I got the sense that they liked what they were seeing. I walked up to the podium that stood in the middle of the stage. I heard the rest of the guys file in behind me and sit in chairs that sat farther back on the stage.
“Hello!” I said into the microphone. The crowd of reporters threw question after question at me but the rolled off me like water on a duck.
“We will get to your questions in a moment, but we each have some words to say first,” I said calmly. Slowly the clamour died down. Cameras still snapped and pens still scratched but the room was quieter. I began.
“My name is Andy Biersack, and I am the leader of the group the Sons of Night who stopped the Warren School Killer. I am the newest and youngest member of the group, and over time these men have become a combination of parents and brothers to me. They brought me up outside of society for ten years starting at the age of fourteen. I turn twenty five in about a month, and I can tell you that although I missed a large part of a normal childhood, I am not a beast, none of us are. We’ve heard rumors of us living in the woods,never bathing, eating fish raw, but I can guarantee you that we are very much people, just like you. I woke up and brushed my teeth this morning, just like you did. At least I hope you did,” I said and there were a few chuckles, I jokingly tugged at my collar and felt a smile creep across my face, cameras flashed, and I let myself smile. Tim said that they would like that. It made me more personable.
“My only hope in all of this is to blend our way back into society, and let you all know exactly what happened in the time that we were gone, no secrets, no lies. Just the clear truth, and with that, the rest of the group and I hope that we can find an understanding and be given pardon for the previous crimes we committed, or as you may learn. Some of us didn’t commit crimes at all, you just think we did. Today isn’t about the bad past though, today is about the good that we did and the good that is to come. The rest of the group would like to talk about for a bit, thank you for listening,” I said, then I turned to sit down. As I settled in my chair Tim patted me on the shoulder and whispered that I did a good job. Ashley stood up and began talking, something about the original founding of the group. I spaced out shortly after he started talking. Paying attention to things was never my strong suit.
I was really bored for a while. They talked about the cabin, and hunting, and research and all sorts of stuff like that. Then it was Mayden’s turn and I perked up, I wanted to hear what she had to say. She rolled to the middle of the stage, and Tim took the microphone from the podium and gave it to her. It was obvious that she was more anxious than the rest of us. She swallowed hard before she started talking.
“H-hello, my name is Mayden and I am the only surviving victim of the Warren School Killer, and I know that most of you know that I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you if it weren’t for the men behind me. They figured out who the killed was and rescued me before he could do any more damage than he already had,” She gestured to her legs.
“As many of you also probably know, the rescue from the killer wasn’t my first interaction with the Sons of Night. I left school early one day, upset over a bullying incident and walked into the woods without any thought. I had no phone, and was wearing only a pair of sweatpants, a light jacket and a t-shirt. It was cold. That was the first time I met Andy. I got lost in the woods, laid down to sleep, and unknowingly began to freeze to death. Had Andy not come and found me huddled up there in a cave, alone on that bitter cold night, I would have frozen to death, he saved my life. I also want to make the point that when I woke up that next morning and went to the cabin with Andy, I went there willingly. He gave me every chance to leave and I decided to go with him. Just remember that these are good people, who have just had a rough go at things,” She said. Then she rolled back into place on the end next to Jake. Tim Gave each of us a microphone, including himself and rolled the podium off the stage. We were opened for questions. Then I was bored again. Almost no questions came my way, everyone wanted to talk to Mayden about what the killer was like, or to Tim about what was really going to happen to us.I was only able to add a few words onto the questions, if anything at all. It was the same way for the other guys as well. They just didn’t know enough about us to form any real questions for us. Finally one came my way.
“I have a question for Mr. Biersack and no one else,” A reporter announced with determination.
“Finally, let’s hear it,” I said.
“You, are soon to be twenty five years old. You have very little education, you have no job experience, and you have this whole ordeal hanging over your head. What are you going to do with yourself when this is all over?” The reporter asked and the room fell silent. I thought for a moment before answering.
“Well, my whole life I’ve dreamed of being a singer in a band, and that’s still really the only thing I could ever see myself doing. Before I do that, and I think this applies to everyone in the Sons of Night we have loose ends to tie up. People to see, apologies to give, loved ones to hug. So before we pursue any sort of musical endeavor I will be spending all my time figuring out how to rebuild all the bridges I burnt,”
****************************************************************The End***********************************************************************

Notes

Don't worry, there will be a sequel. It will be called The Light Of Day and will be posted when the prequel is complete. Thank you all so much for reading, if you want the rest of the story then go subscribe to the prequel Children of Dawn if you haven't. Or You can follow me on Tumblr at sonoorousmusic.tumblr.com or you can subscribe to me on YouTube at the link below:

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