A rude awakening

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Disclaimer: "The Lost Boys", sadly, do not belong to me. No money is being made out of this.

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Author's notes: The Lost Boys were amongst the heroes of my youth. After more than fifteen years, I revisited the movie and decided that it was finally time to save them from their cruel and senseless deaths …

So that's why. Concerning the how, this will centre mostly around David, Dwayne, Paul and Marko, but the Frogs and maybe Sam will also have a bigger part in it. Max, Star, Laddie, Michael, Lucy, Grandpa, Nanook and Thorn are bound to show up, but will probably not play such an important role. I have only seen the original movie, and will give the sequels as wide a berth as any sensible vampire would – or should – a bathtub full of holy water, so everything that happened "later" will be completely and happily ignored.

There may be some slashy elements, but nothing too graphic, since I believe that vampires draw their pleasure mainly from killing, biting and playing around with blood, and not from the nether regions …

I have to say that I'm no native speaker, so I will gladly correct any mistakes you point out to me.

Reviews are very much appreciated. Enjoy! :-)

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Warning: This is rated M for a reason. It contains cursing, drug abuse, scenes of violence, allusions to child abuse, (in my eyes, very) slight homoerotic and, later on, a pretty nasty torture scene. There may also be other things readers might find alarming or disturbing.

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Something was terribly wrong. There were voices in his head, and they did not belong to his brothers. There were feelings which were not theirs, feelings of hatred and bloodthirstiness, wafting through him like a cloud of suffocating smoke. Then a scream, piercing, high-pitched, and full of agony. The scream was theirs, as was the gush of wind that followed when the three bodies hanging next to David went plummeting down, as was the blood which was suddenly everywhere, rich scented, vampiric blood smelling strongly of Marko.

David's eyes flew open. He saw three mortal boys, one of whom he recognized as Michael's little brother, the other two as the obnoxious little beasties running the comic bookshop at the Boardwalk. All three were covered in red. Marko was writhing on the ground, bathed in his own blood, a wooden stake protruding from his chest.

David plunged down with a roar of fury. "You're dead meat!"

The mortals went scrambling away from him, yelling in terror, and made off to the entrance of the cave with all the speed they could muster – which wasn't much.

'Dwayne!'David commanded his brother silently at his side, and they both took off in pursuit. Paul stayed behind, clutching Marko with wide and fearful eyes, the wounded vampire still howling in agony.

They could have grabbed the children right away, they were so slow and clumsy … But David was burning with wrath and wanted to torment them, so he allowed them the illusion that there still was a chance of escape. Only as they were almost at the entrance did he grab one boy's ankle. He had caught Michael's little brother – Sam, if his anger-clouded brain remembered correctly. The boy was kicking at him and screaming his lungs out in fear of death, but David's grip was unyielding. He felt sorely tempted to grip even harder, hard enough to make bones crack. The little rat tried to draw him out into the sun, and David gave in to the temptation, hearing an immensely satisfying snap as he felt the boy's ankle break under his fingers. Sam gave a shocked squeal, then gasped and choked with pain. David felt his lips quirk in a cruel smile as he pulled the boy back by his broken limb, enjoying the obvious agony he caused.

Meanwhile, Dwayne had managed to snatch the other two little meanies, holding them in a headlock while they were kicking and cursing at him, rabid with fury and anguish.

David clutched Sam by the scruff of the neck and took off at highest possible speed, Dwayne following in tow. As soon as they were back at their lair, Sam was thrown carelessly to the floor. He uttered a pained and pitiful whimper.

"Don't move!" David hissed at him. "Or I gut you."

Then he knelt down hurriedly by his wounded brother's side.

Marko was dying, there was no denying it. His skin was not only ashen, but had already begun to crumble like dry parchment. There was almost no blood left in him, and he had barely the strength to keep his eyes open. Paul had, apparently, not chanced to remove the stake for fear of injuring him even further.

"I gave him as much of my blood as I dared," Paul whispered, looking both scared and drained. "But it did no good. It just kept seeping out of him again."

"We have to remove the stake. Hold him fast, both of you." David nodded to Paul and Dwayne, who dutifully complied, but not ere Dwayne had whispered something to the Frogs that made the boys blanch.

"I'm sorry, brother," David said, putting a booted foot on Marko's abdomen. He grabbed the stake with both hands and yanked it out. It made a sickeningly wet sound, which was instantly drowned by a blood-curdling shriek of pain.

"I'm sorry," David repeated, kneeling down again and taking hold of one of Marko's withered hands. They looked as if they belonged to a methuselah. "You'll heal … Hold on. Just a little longer … Hold on."

Marko looked at him through half-closed eyes which were brimming with pain.

"David …?" His voice was barely audible.

"Yes, it's me," David answered in a soothing tone while wrenching off his gloves. He sliced his left wrist open with his fangs and held it to Marko's mouth. "Drink."

His brother's lips felt like dry leaves as they touched his skin. Marko was almost to weak to swallow.

"I'll get the bottle," Paul said, already leaving. He seemed slightly unsteady on his feet.

"Yes," David answered.

He felt somewhat dazed. Perhaps he was in shock. Was that even possible for a vampire?

"Yes," he repeated. "He will need everything we can give him."

Would Marko make it? He was so faint, so parched …

"Don't you dare to die on me," David said, gently stroking Marko's blood-clotted hair with his free hand. "Don't you dare …"

His wounded brother was drinking rather slowly and demurely. David felt not even a little weakened by the blood loss yet, and Marko's horrifying appearance had not changed in the least.

Dwayne, who had long since returned to his guard duty, spoke up quietly. "Should I already drain them?" he asked, indicating to the three mortal boys cowering at his feet. Michael's little brother was cradling his broken ankle, his face smeared with tears, snot and Marko's blood. The Frogs seemed to have shrunk into themselves, although the one with the bandana still tried to hold up a small semblance of defiance.

"Their blood will be stronger if it goes through one of us first," Dwayne stated matter of factly.

"Yes," David answered. "Start with that one." He indicated towards the bandana-kid, whose annoying grimace of false courage immediately melted into one of fear. David hesitated for a second. "Don't drink him dry," he added as an afterthought. "At least not yet. I might still decide to turn him …"

An expression of absolute horror crept over the boy's features. "No!" he croaked hoarsely.

"Oh yes," David replied with all the sizeable meanness he was capable of. "You just tipped the scales."

Then he turned back to Marko. David gradually began to feel the effect of his feeding, which he considered to be a good sign. Marko also seemed a bit more lucid, and his lips on David's skin felt softer and more substantial now. The hole in his chest still looked terrifying, but the bleeding had stopped. His flesh had to be already in the process of healing, though not much of it was visible yet.

A panicked shriek rang through the cave. Turning around, David met with the helpless, agonized eyes of the bandana-kid, who was dangling in Dwayne's grip, fighting tooth and nail to keep the vampire at bay. He stood no chance, of course. The stream of colourful and most amusing invectives he threw at Dwayne quickly changed into gasps, first of pain, then surprise, as fangs pierced his neck, and the blood began to leave his body. Being fed on was not necessarily an altogether unpleasant experience, at least once one got over the fear and the initial pain. Soon the boy's eyes glazed over. He had long since stopped fighting. He was still holding David's gaze, but with a dazed and confused, even slightly exhilarated air about him. Despite the royal fuck-up they were all currently stuck in, David could not help but chuckle.

The boy's brother, on the other hand, did not seem too pleased. He had stood frozen while the screaming and cursing went on, but now, as it had become eerily quiet, he came out of his stupor and charged at Dwayne like a rabid dog. "Get off him!" he shouted, pummeling the vampire madly, which was, of course, quite ineffective, and barely drew a warning growl from Dwayne. The fuming kid was quickly plucked off of him by Paul, who had just returned with the bottle.

"You took your time," David commented, a little irritated. "What kept you so long?"

Paul appeared to have some trouble in restraining the flailing Frog. "I don't feel too well," he muttered, and David noticed again how drained he looked. He must have gone nearly over the edge in giving Marko his blood. The two were best mates, after all. If Marko died, David could easily imagine Paul following.

"You look like shit," David told him, but there was a rare softness in his voice. "You will drink, too, and you will not hand all of it over to Marko."

Paul started to protest, but David hushed him immediately. "You are also important to me. And we need all your strength now."

Eventually, Paul nodded, bottle in one hand, frothing boy in the other. "Okay," he whispered.

Then, without warning, he turned the still flailing Frog's arm. A soft pop could be heard. The kid went instantly rigid, his face taking on a sickly greenish colour.

"Don't ya puke on me," Paul warned him in a deceptively mellow voice. "Or I'll dislocate your other shoulder as well."

David glanced back at Dwayne and the bandana-boy. The mortal's eyes were half-mast now, and he had begun to slaver all over his chin.

"Stop," David warned. "Or you lose him."

Dwayne released the boy, albeit a bit reluctantly. His barely conscious form fell to the ground with a thud, almost hitting Michael's brother, who had remained frozen during the whole ordeal, crying silently, but trying not to draw any attention to himself.

The other Frog was sobbing openly now. Paul kept him in a firm grip.

"Don't ya cry, baby," he mocked him, while breathing down his neck. "I'll make it good for ya – I promise …" Chuckling, he placed a swift kiss on the boy's nape, which made the kid shudder all over. Then he dragged him to David in order to deliver the bottle.

It was about time. If David did not want to weaken himself dangerously, he could not give Marko much more.

"Let go," he prompted, but Marko, being a starved vampire and all, clung to his wrist, so that David had to dislodge him gently. "It's alright," he said in answer to Marko's moan of longing, "there'll be more." He then tipped the bottle to his still bluish lips and let him empty it completely.

"How is he?" Paul asked, trepidation evident in his voice. "Will he be okay?"

"Yeah," David replied, feeling Paul's relief wash over him and mingle with his own. "He will be alright. He just needs more blood …" he said, putting the empty bottle aside.

Dwayne stepped over silently. He knelt beside David, who quickly made room for him, and scooped Marko up in his arms, offering him the vein on his neck, which was pulsing with the blood of his recent feed. "Come on, pal," he muttered, almost inaudibly. "Help yourself."

While Dwayne was cradling the greedily drinking Marko, David cast a look at Paul, who was completely caught up in toying with his food. At the current moment, he was sniffing the Frog boy up and down like the appetizing snack he was, grinning viciously all the while, and making the kid cringe with fear and disgust.

"Quit being an asshole, Paul," David remarked dispassionately, "and get the fuck on with it. But don't kill him – yet."

Paul smirked at him in reply. He brought his mouth close to the boy's ear and whispered in a mellifluous, almost seductive voice: "What's your name, sweety?"

He received no answer, only a scared, but also angry and stubborn glare.

Paul tossed the kid a bit to underline his seriousness. "I asked ya a question, froggy. I await an reply. And I'm not famed for my patience."

As there was still no answer, he gave the boy's healthy arm a brutal twist, looking quite satisfied with the resulting moan of pain.

"I can go easy on ya or I can make this living hell," he hissed. "It all depends on your cooperation."

Finally, he received a muffled reply: "Alan."

That was all.

"Hiya, Alan!" Paul greeted, sounding elated, and changing effortlessly back to pleasant. In a human, this would have been psychopathic behaviour, but it was quite common among vampires. Paul was not a mean person, but he was a predator, caring little about the feelings of his intended meal, and interacting with it for amusement only. To an unsuspecting mortal observer at the Boardwalk, he might look like a clown, always ready to joke and fool around. Yet, in truth, he was anything but. He liked fooling around with his food, though …

"You're a real cutie, Alan, ya know that?" Paul said in a singsong voice, curling a strand of Alan's hair around his fingers. "So sad we've but little time …"

Without warning, he yanked the boy's head hard to the side and bore down upon him. Alan gave a shocked squeal, then gritted his teeth, struggling to keep his countenance. The boy was quite tough, David had to give him kudos for that. He liked tough in a human.

Sensing movement behind him, David turned back to Dwayne and Marko. Apparently, Marko was done with feeding of Dwayne, but the dark-haired vampire was still holding his brother in his arms, looking intensely down upon him and gracing him with a fond smile.

"Let me see," David demanded, moving closer to the both of them.

Dwayne complied without qualms. Marko appeared to be much better now, the colour and texture of his skin almost back to normal. He was looking at David with clear, but tired eyes. "I feel like shit," he admitted hoarsely.

"You look like it," David replied, ruffling his hair affectionately. After a moment's pause, he added: "I'm glad you're still with us."

"Me, too," Marko whispered.

David went for a closer inspection of his chest. There was still a sizeable, ugly and painful looking hole in it, but it seemed to be closing.

"I don't know if we'll be able to patch you up completely tonight," David mused, "but it should get considerably better once you have incorporated the blood of those two little rats." He nodded in the direction of Alan and Sam. The latter was still crouched on the floor, unlikely to go anywhere any time soon with his broken and angrily swollen ankle.

Marko managed to sit up and take a closer look at the offered remedy for his ailment. "Ain't that Michael's little brother?" he asked, casting the boy a very unfriendly look indeed.

"He is," David confirmed.

Marko's gaze shifted to the unconscious Frog on the ground, then to the one Paul held currently in his clutches. The boy was still standing on his legs, but barely. His expression was one of deep concentration, as if he was trying to fight the feeding vampire off mentally. Then again, David pondered, the boy might just be trying to stay on his feet.

"I know them!" Marko was furrowing his brows.

"Their family owns the comic store at the Boardwalk," Dwayne offered.

"Yeah, I remember now … Ain't they the ones who give out free anti-vampire comics?" Marko gave a short, incredulous laugh. "I thought they were just nuts …" He shook his head, disbelief etched into his features. "How on earth did they find our lair?"

"I think," David's gaze wandered over to Michael's little brother, who became really uncomfortable really fast under his cold and penetrating stare, "we should ask dear little Sammy about this. He's Michael's brother, after all, he's bound to know one thing or the other …"

With a dull thud, Alan's unconscious body hit the ground. Paul turned to them and wiped his mouth carelessly, before joining their little reunion on the floor. "Dude," he said, smiling like mad at Marko, "I'm damn happy to see ya up and well."

Marko smiled back and high fived him, albeit a bit feebly.

"So," David said darkly, finally getting up and walking over to Sam. The boy cringed before him, trying to shield his maimed limb with the rest of his body. David grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, not caring in the slightest whether he hurt him or not. Apparently, he did, for the boy gave a piercing shriek and would have gone down again, if not for the vampire's unyielding hold.

"So," David began anew, his voice deceptively calm. "We owe this to you?" He nodded over to Marko. "You brought them here?" This time, he indicated towards the Frog brothers.

"I … I …" Sam stuttered helplessly, half beside himself with fear.

David jolted him slightly. "Get a grip, boy!" he spit impatiently.

To his own surprise, this seemed to have a positive effect on the kid.

"I … I didn't mean them to kill you all," Sam muttered, clearly distressed, and perhaps not only because of his own fate and that of the Frogs. "I never wanted anyone to be killed …" he whispered meekly. "But they said, if you kill the head vampire, all the others turn back … I thought that Michael … maybe …" He looked at David with wide, frightened eyes and fell silent.

David gave a derisive snort. "They were wrong," he stated simply. "This goes only for the ones who aren't fully turned, yet. Your brother would have become completely human again, as would have Star and Laddie. That is, if you had indeed managed to find and kill the head vampire – which I think highly unlikely. But none of us would have changed back."

Sam seemed perplexed. "Then … none of you are …?" he asked haltingly. "I would've thought …" He looked at David again, positively terrified of him. "After today … I thought ... I thought you must be …"

David graced him with a smirk. "Understandably, but wrong. I'm the head of this bunch of misfits who call themselves The Lost Boys," he smiled at his brothers affectionately, "but I'm not the head vampire."

"Then … who is?" Sam asked in a very small voice.

David's smirk broadened. "I think you know the answer already."

Sam looked horror-stricken. "No," he whispered. "Not him … He can't be …"

"Yes, he can. And he is." David gave a quiet chuckle. "The nice family guy without an inkling of fashion sense, who is currently courting that dear, oh so sweet and tasty mother of yours …"

"No …" Sam mouthed again.

"Get over it." David was enjoying this more and more. "He'll probably want you as an addition to the family, so you might as well get used to calling us guys here brothers."

Sam made a queer, incredulous sound, stuck somewhere between snort and desperate laughter.

"I'm not joking," David assured him. "Max asked me to rope you in, both you and your brother. He thought that your mother would be more likely to yield to his advances if her sons were already turned."

The boy seemed so unsteady on his one good leg now that David finally showed something akin to mercy, and scooped him up in his arms.

"You might want to make amends to your brother Marko," he told Sam, while carrying him over to the other vampires. "He nearly died because of your foolishness."

Marko was drinking again, this time from Paul's wrist, but had followed the conversation with pricked ears. He now let go of his brother's hand, evidently in full control of his vampiric instincts again. David could have shouted with joy. Instead, he just smiled at Marko appreciatively, before setting Sam down on the floor right next to him, this time taking some care not to aggravate the fracture further.

"Hiya, little one," Marko greeted him, his voice somewhere between mock teasing and very precarious amicability. "Look at this."

He smoothed his blood-encrusted jacket to the side, so that Sam had a nice view of the still prominent hole in his chest. It did no longer go all the way through him and had begun to heal from the inside out, but looking at it still made Sam turn an ugly shade of yellow.

"Looks nasty, eh?" Marko said softly. "Feels nasty, too."

He then took Sam's right hand into his own, firmly, but without hurting him, guiding it steadily towards the gaping hole he owed to him and the Frogs. All the while, he was looking the boy straight in the eye.

Obviously, Sam did not dare to resist him, but he seemed utterly horrified. "I … I tried to stop them," he gasped. "I really did …"

"Oh, but I know you did," Marko answered pleasantly. "I heard you in my sleep. You told them not to do it." He smiled at Sam, holding his hand tightly in his grasp. "But, then again," he continued, still in a very gentle voice, "you brought them here. They would never have found us … but for you."

He gripped the boy harder, forcing his hand to the injury, steering it not only to, but into the horrible hole in his chest. Sam's hand fit into it completely. He looked as if he was going to faint from fear and revulsion. But Marko did neither threaten nor harm him, he just held his hand firmly where he had chosen to put it.

"This hurt like hell," he went on, eyes still locked with the boy. "Actually, it still does."

At long last, he let go of Sam, who hesitated somewhat, before withdrawing his hand extremely carefully out of Marko's undead body.

"Don't you think you should help fix that?" Marko asked, his tone slightly mocking now, but still not unkind.

Sam hesitated again. He gulped. Eventually, he nodded his affirmation, though feeling clearly uncomfortable with doing so.

"Gee, thanks. That's really awesome of you!" Marko, already halfway into the change, grinned at the boy like a shark, showing his sharp and pointed teeth. "I promise I'll play nice in return."

And he did, David noted with surprise and curiosity. Unless Paul, who had but toyed with the Frog boy, Marko really did go easy on Sam. He drew him over gently, pushing the boy's face against his chest, though furthest as possible from the wound, so that Sam would neither have to look at the grisly hole nor at Marko's ghastly grimace of a face as he turned into full feeding mode. When he went for the neck, he did it cautiously, not ripping the skin to shreds, but punctuating the vein swiftly and precisely. Sam still moaned with the pain, but Marko shushed him quickly, rocking him soothingly while he drank.

David felt slightly bewildered by the scene. But, then again, a lot out of the ordinary had happened today, and the boy was, after all, to become part of their family – whatever David thought about this particular quirk of Max's stupid antics.

Marko stopped drinking before Sam became unconscious.

The boy seemed very dazed. He experienced today's unique privilege of being lowered to the ground quite carefully. His glazed eyes searched the surroundings anxiously, until they found David and settled on him.

"And now …?" Sam croaked with an effort, looking forlorn and confused. "What happens now …?"

"Now," David answered calmly, leaning against the wall of the cave and lighting a much needed cigarette, "we wait."

He inhaled deeply, then blew the smoke out again. It formed a translucent cloud around his head.

"We wait, till your dearest brother Michael makes his appearance on this stage …"