"Is David mad?" she asked tentatively, unwilling to meet Marko's eyes.
"It's David babe, 'course he's mad." Marko said, lifting Kyra's face to force her to look him in the eye. If she was like this over David being mad, he didn't even want to think about what Max's anger would do to the girl.
"I'm sorry." Kyra whispered, still staring at the ground.
"No you're not, so don't lie. I can tell when you are." Marko said, half smiling.
"I just...it got to be...oh hell." Kyra said, trying to explain why she had done it, but unable to find the words that suited her emotions correctly.
Kyra was Max's idea. She was his latest obsession, but in all probability, she would end up at the mercy of Thorn. Kyra was 18, young, alive, full of energy – at first. Once Max latched on, everything changed, except that she was now eternally young. Max went through periods when he valued material things over his own sanity. He took to a girl, got the boys to bring her in, and then as quick as they came, they would be gone. The various girls might last two months if they were lucky. At the rate Kyra was going, she'd be lucky if she lasted the rest of the week. She was smarter than the others had been and caught on quicker as to why she suddenly had fangs. But Kyra had a problem.
Kyra had a habit of running away whenever Max was within visual distance of her. She knew why she had been approached by he boys three nights ago, and all she saw in Max was a perverted old vampire who tried too hard to be normal. If it had been on of the actual Boys that had wanted her, it would have been a different story, but then it would have been for all the other girls also. Max, on the other hand, had a look that kind of screamed 'pedophile' to nearly everyone that saw him. He owned a video store, giving him free access to all the videos, and all his workers were young, all pretty, all female, and seeing as it was a video store, the entire population of Santa Carla had come into the store at least once, if not more, the teenagers more frequent. This gave him the pleasure of being surrounded by kids the entire night. See where everyone got the visions from?
The fact that the Boys had a different girl with them every month or so gave the impression that they were easy to get into and looking for new members – and impression that the Boys didn't like at all. They were annoyed with Max after a year of his 'obsessions'. They always ended up having to clean up, seeing as Max was either incapacitated or still in the killing mood. They left him alone when he was like that, much preferring to have him work out his anger on some homeless guy than them. To truly get in with the Lost Boys, you had to have an in. Either one of the foursome was in love with you, you were already a vampire but willing to submit, they needed you for something other than blood, or you knew them before they became vampires. And the likelihood of any of those happening was very small. Kyra had potential – the Boys realized it even if she didn't , but her run-from-Max phobia had to disappear. Kyra was different – and not necessarily in a good way. She had mood swings like crazy – fist she was confused out of her mind, then she was ecstatic.
Marko smiled as he remembered the fist night of her becoming a vampire. Five minutes after drinking from the bottle of blood, she had been behind David on his motorcycle, and had been very quiet. Suddenly, she was screaming and throwing her hands up in the air. David thought something was attacking her – so he stopped.
"What?" David asked, turning to look at her as the rest of the boys stopped beside him.
"I don't have to deal with my period anymore! My body eats the goddamn blood instead of getting rid of it!" Kyra screamed happily, having gotten off the bike and begun to dance around, pulling Paul off his bike to dance with her. It was ten whole minutes before they could get her back on the motorcycle.
Marko smiled as Kyra looked at him, a sheepish grin on her face. They had both had the same thought – shared it more like. Another handy side-effect of being a vampire.
"Come on." Marko said, pulling Kyra toward his bike, forcing her to leave the spot of refuge behind and once again venture out into the dark.
"I trust you too much." Kyra said, climbing on behind the blonde.
"You're lying again. You barely trust me." Marko said, speeding off into the night, Kyra stuck with him for better or for worse.
"I trust you not to kill me." Kyra said into Marko's ear, hiding behind him as much as possible to keep the forceful wind off her face. The motorcycles had been fun at first, exciting her every time she came near them, but she was used to them already.
"I'm not allowed to kill you." Marko called back over the wind. Kyra playfully hit him on the shoulder, but not hard enough to cause any effect.
"Would you have killed me? Like you kill the Surf Nazis? Without a second thought?" Kyra asked across the mental link all the vampires shared, preferring to keep her mouth closed to prevent any unwanted bugs from flying in.
Marko didn't respond. In all likelihood, he probably never would have encountered Kyra on a hunt. Mainly, the Boys stuck to the homeless surfers and ragged rejects who slept under the pier on the beach. For the most part, they didn't kill women or children. In a sense, they had killed Laddie, but he was already dying, and Star had been the biggest exception to their rule. David had finally realized she was too desperate to get out, and that he had made a mistake and chose to take care of his mistake privately, a decision all four boys were happy with. Kyra might have had the brains to stay out of their kill zones, but Marko still didn't know what to say to her. 'No, I would have denied my bloodlust because I couldn't kill you?' or 'Yes, it wouldn't have caused my any guilt?' Neither were right, but both were lies.
"I don't know, babe. You probably never would've come near us." Marko said, turning around and offering a small smile.
"Now you're lying." Kyra said, smiling lightly as she understood the truth, realizing that Marko had tried to protect her from the harsh reality of the discussion.
"That's what I have to do." Marko shot across the link as he pulled through to the cave opening, the wooden steps acting as a beacon. Marko hardly had to think about where he was going anymore, he just ended up there.
Kyra wasn't meant to last long. She was just filler to Max – someone to take up the space between now and the official start of summer in Santa Carla, which was only three weeks from now. She had a family, it seemed like a long time ago to Kyra, so much had happened since then. Nothing remained of them anymore, Max had made sure of that, stressing the point that she would have no where left to run to. All the Boys liked Kyra, something that Max didn't know. David saw her as someone who could live up to the standards he demanded of his pack, a regard he did not give lightly. Dwayne found her personality as more of a maternal figure, someone to help raise Laddie for the rest of eternity. Paul recognized her character was just as crazy as his was, but with a slightly different style to making people laugh. Marko saw something in Kyra that was a lot like himself – she cared too much about those close to her, and once attached, was only able to see the good in them. Kyra realized The Lost Boys were a family in themselves – one that she couldn't even think of ever being allowed into.
"You ran away again." David's cold voice made the words sting, and Kyra immediately tried to dodge his attack. "Why?" Kyra felt ashamed of her actions instantaneously, where as an hour ago she fully believed they were justified as self-defense.
"Why?" David repeated again, louder when Kyra didn't even look him in the eye. He wasn't mad at her in reality, his anger was more towards Max. He just chose to keep it locked up until he overreacted at the wrong person.
"I'm sorry." Kyra whispered, looking up at David, slowly deciphering his form through her bangs.
"You don't have to go berserk every time you see Max! Do you honestly think that something bad is going to happen while we're there? Try to think before you do that again, or you might end up dead! And you won't be given a second chance to live next time!" David stormed. He was protective of Kyra, more so than with the others. But David had a reason. Kyra reminded him of his sister, the sister he lost long ago the same way Kyra had lost her family. He saw his sister in Kyra sometimes, almost as if it was his beloved sister reincarnated.
Kyra looked away, mouth open but not knowing what to say. She wanted desperately to please David, to make all four of them proud of her. They were her only chance at survival, and she could almost feel her grip on safety and sanity slowly slipping away. Insanity was slowly entering her mind, but she didn't realize until it was too late that the fog in her head and uncaring attitude meant more than just comprehension evaporating from her abilities. A small amount of a salty tear hit the cave floor, Kyra's tongue flicking out at the last second to catch the sign of her agony. Kyra sunk to the cave floor, daggers of pain shooting up through her legs, her mind blank as she allowed herself to be enveloped by the pain.
Kyra opened her eyes slowly, the tears having washed her face of any emotion. Only Dwayne was still in the cave, David, Paul, and Marko having retreated to the soothing chaos of the boardwalk.
"You're going to be alright. Max can't get you while you're with us." He spoke softly from his perch on the arm of the couch. "He fears the public, the open." Speaking his thoughts was a rarity with Dwayne, and his words of promise were not to be taken lightly.
"So the open is where we will stay." Dwayne fed across the link, preferring to put his words directly into Kyra's mind, ensuring that she would listen to them.
Dwayne got up, silently closing the space separating them. Gathering the still unresponsive Kyra in his arms, he flew through the night, taking her to the one spot he head deemed safe, to the only people who could even begin to protect her.
But Max had invaded his comfort before for the sake of revenge before. And while Dwayne believed himself to be taking Kyra to her survival, he was only adding to the angry flames that would eventually claim her life too. And now, more than ever, Kyra wished she could have been locked up with her family the hour that they were killed, wishing to trade her sad existence in life for the welcoming blackness of freedom.