Brother Grim
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Disclaimer: The Lost Boys, sadly, do not belong to me. All rights go to their respective owners.
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AN: This is the third installment in my Passing Glances series, and probably won't make any sense to you if you haven't read Passing Glances and Strange Days first.
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The Snatcher
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I got Eddie Munster. E. F.
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Lucy had found the note when she returned from her work at the video store. It had been pinned to the front door. Not much imagination was needed to deduce who E. F. was, and "the attack of Eddie Munster" is still very vivid in both Sam and Alan's minds.
"I can't believe it," Alan mumbles, distraught. "I can't believe that he really kidnapped a child."
"It's still your brother we're talking about, right?" David says through Michael's mouth. "I don't think that there are that many things he wouldn't do if he believes it serves to reduce the population of suckmonkeys."
Someone chuckles. It's probably Paul; never mind that it sounds like Sam.
Star says: "But if it's really Laddie, how did he even get here? We haven't heard from him in ages! Since he ran … you know, after …"
"After we were all burned to cinder?" Marko helpfully supplies. Since he speaks through Star, the effect is like watching a schizophrenic talking.
"Well, yeah," she admits, clearly uncomfortable with the reminder.
The vampires had, of course, tried to nudge the humans into searching for the lost member of their brotherhood. But they hadn't gained sound influence on them until Christmas. Lucy had, of her own volition, inquired with the police several times shortly after Laddie had made a run for it, but to no avail.
The Boys and their hosts have been planning to go on a two week search for the child during the Easter holidays. But without their vampiric senses, it's fairly hard to decide where to start. Their chances of finding Laddie with mere human abilities are depressingly slim.
But now, apparently, Laddie has found them before they even started looking for him.
Michael steps at Star's side and puts on arm around her. "It's no use arguing. The question is whether it's really Laddie, and if it is, how we get him out, right?"
This at least is something they can all agree upon.
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Lone Warrior
He has put the thing into the storeroom, all safe and sound. It's bound, gagged and surrounded by a circle of salt. Edgar has also put some holy bread and a cross in front of the locked door, just in case.
Eddie Munster is the first vampire that has dared to enter Santa Carla after the destruction of Max and his bloodsucking biker bunch. Subsequently, the Frogs brothers united have managed to keep the town suckmonkey-free for more than a year and a half!
But even though they have been annihilated, the vampires have taken something with them that is very important to Edgar: his brother. Till this very day, he doesn't really understand how and why it came to be. He only knows that he has lost Alan, and that the damned bloodsuckers are somehow responsible for it.
Of course, on the surface, everything seems fairly normal. Alan's living up in the hills now, at Elias Woodcroft's place, with Lucy Emerson, her sons Sam and Michael (a former half-vampire) and the latter's once nearly undead girlfriend Star. They even have two dogs – that one of their pets is a hellhound is, naturally, imperceptible to all those idiots who think that Alan is lucky and that his life has, in fact, changed for the better.
Grace and Walter, the Frog parents, have even consented to the arrangement, although Edgar had done his hardest to convince them that they were selling Alan quite literally to the devil. The teachers at school are commenting on how much better Alan's performance has become. Even some of the students have said that now, Alan might actually be going somewhere, instead of just going to end up as a burn-out working in a comic shop owned by his hippie loser parents.
Only Edgar knows.
He has observed the Emersons and his brother closely over the last few months. Alan has moved out at the beginning of last year's December, and it's now late March.
If one doesn't look too closely, everything appears to be quite ordinary.
Lucy Emerson is still working at the video store formerly owned by the deceased vampire Max. As far as Edgar knows, part of the business now belongs to her. The fact that Max has bequeathed her with anything at all, after supposedly only knowing her for a few days, should have been enough to raise suspicion, but it apparently isn't, at least not for all the dumbasses around. That Max has left Lucy part of his business, that she is now driving around in a sports car and accompanied by the very hellhound Max himself owned before her can only mean one thing: Lucy is, and in all likelihood always was, in league with the bloodsuckers, and is currently acting out some dark, hidden plan of Max and his brood. As of yet, Edgar doesn't know the exact outlines of this plan, but he will find out – especially if it somehow involves his brother, as he strongly suspects.
Then there's Michael and Star, the former half-vampires, who are still very much, far too much, enamored with the beach and the Boardwalk, the favorite hunting grounds of the Santa Carla pack. Michael's riding a bike now that looks suspiciously like the one peroxide once rode. The girl's no longer his pillion, but has a machine of her own that looks exactly like the bike Curly Sue used to drive. Even the clothes she wears seem as if she ripped them right off of the suckmonkey.
And then there's Sam. Edgar and Alan hardly knew him when he begged them for their expert help. He had only been in their shop once or twice, and he wasn't exactly the type of guy they were eager to be friends with – quite the opposite, in fact. Sam was and is the antonym of everything the brothers thought cool. But regardless of that, during last year's summer, Alan has taken a strange liking to him, and even though Sam is two years younger than him. Edgar is sorely tempted to call that attraction flat-out unnatural.
Whatever it is, it has drawn Alan to Sam and away from Edgar, engulfing his brother in the dark, rotten things that are going on in that old house in the hills, amongst a bunch of disturbed, possibly possessed and vampire-infested strangers, a suspiciously creepy old guy and a veritable army of stuffed animals.
But Edgar is determined. He will get his brother back – whatever the cost.
If he has to kill that deranged demon child to reach his goal, so be it.
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In the Dark
Laddie is terribly, mortally afraid. He hasn't been that scared since he witnessed the death of his parents. Three months of living with the Lost Boys, then being forced to bear testimony to their destruction, and after that one and a half years on the streets – there has been ample terror for him in the past two years. But nothing compares to this.
It is pitch black all around him. He is bound so tight that he can hardly move a muscle, and the gag cuts into the corners of his mouth, the last moisture on his tongue long since soaked up by it.
He is so thirsty.
Laddie knows his captor's identity, of course. Edgar is quite the outstanding character, and when he announced his presence while Laddie was rummaging through the trash behind a Santa Carla diner, the twelve-year-old immediately recognized him.
Laddie should have been more careful. But he was so, so hungry …
Edgar promised that he would help him – and, just like that, Laddie went with him.
He should have known better. As soon as they entered the back section of the comic store, Edgar attacked him. He hit Laddie over the head with something like a cudgel. Since Laddie was just dazed, but didn't black out as Edgar apparently had expected, the older boy proceeded to pummel the lights out of him until he desperately cried at him to stop.
Edgar was so angry, so rabidly aggressive, that it scared the shit out of Laddie. When he shouted "Stop! Please, stop!" in fear of his life, Edgar halted his attack and looked at him, for the first time really looked at him. Ostensibly, he saw the panic in Laddie's eyes, and for a moment, he seemed almost ashamed.
But then he ordered Laddie brusquely to sit up and put his hands behind his back, and bound him with the thin but robust cords they used on the comic stack boxes. Edgar pulled the bonds very tight, and the thin strings cut painfully into Laddie's flesh, but he didn't dare to complain. Then Edgar took his bandanna off and gagged Laddie with it, pushed him into a secluded storage room, bound his legs also, stood, turned and shut the door behind him. Laddie was submerged in total darkness as he heard the lock click.
That must have been hours ago.
Laddie's almost bend double, and his muscles are cramping painfully. He is very thirsty now, but the only things he has in his mouth are the taste of cotton and Edgar's not too clean hair.
At present, Laddie hates Edgar with every fiber of his being. If he could rip out his throat and drink his blood, like he once saw Paul doing to a girl, Laddie gladly would.
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Counterstrike
They have discussed a whole bunch of different plans of action. Lucy has even voted for calling the police. But in the end, they have settled on just going to the comic store together like any normal customers would, let Elias and Lucy talk to the Frog parents, have Michael and Sam restraining Edgar, and Alan and Star searching for Laddie to get him out.
They are quite sure that this kind of dispassionate action is the last thing Edgar expects.
If they can't find Laddie anywhere in the building, the Boys are going to come out, snatch Edgar away, and torture him until he spills the beans of Laddie's whereabouts.
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"Good evening, Grace. Walter …" Lucy smiles at the Frog parents. "We know it's late, but …"
Walter waves her off with a broad smile. "No problem, Lulu." He giggles. "No problem at all."
Elias steps beside his daughter, a jar in his outstretched hand. "Special homemade cookies," he says and winks at Grace. He was never into comics, but he still remembers the day those two opened their shop, back in the early Seventies, Grace carrying a sleeping baby in a shawl on her hip, a toddler clinging to her colorful skirt.
The special cookies are received with enthusiasm.
While Lucy and Elias keep the senior Frogs occupied in the shop, Alan, Sam, Michael and Star have entered the building through the backdoor. Edgar has fortified the place for sure, but he has fortified it against vampires, ghosts and other supernatural beings. Apparently, he hasn't counted on four almost normal people, one of them legitimately equipped with a key.
As soon as they are inside, they split. Sam, who has been to the living area a couple of times before Alan moved in with them, and Michael are to go up and tackle Edgar. Alan and Star are to search the rest of the house, checking the places where Edgar might have incarcerated Laddie.
Alan has a good idea already where that might be. He guides Star to the storage area. As soon as he sees the cross and the holy bread in front of the door, he knows that he was right.
'He's in there,' Dwayne confirms. 'I can sense him … barely.'
'So can I,' Marko says. Through the mental link the vampires can open and close mostly at will, all the others are quickly informed.
Before they get to unlocking the door, there is shouting from above. Alan can make out Edgar's voice, than Michael's. There's a smooth and stone-cold infliction in Michael's raised tones that tells Alan David is coming through. He also feels the anger of the gang leader, as well as that of the others, and for a moment, he worries for his brother; but then he pushes the feeling aside.
Edgar hasn't put the key to the padlock where they used to, but Alan knows where the tool box is. In less than a minute, he has broken the lock and opened the door. He turns the switch, and neon light floods the tiny storage room.
Laddie blinks up at them from the floor. His position looks very uncomfortable. Alan can see that the thin cords he is bound with are cutting deeply into his flesh and force him to bend double. Edgar also has gagged him with a piece of cloth that looks suspiciously like one of his bandannas. The red color of the gag seems to reflect in Laddie's wide, surprised and relieved eyes.
"Oh, Laddie!" Star says and hurriedly kneels down beside the boy, hugging him close. Alan takes out his pocket knife and cuts the gag. Laddie makes a disgusted noise. Then Alan severs the bonds, and finally, Laddie can hug Star back. He practically melts into her, hiding his face in her neck. They look like brother and sister, or even like mother and son, reunited after a far too long time of separation.
"Ow!" Star cries and tries to pull back, while Laddie's still clinging to her.
"Laddie!" Alans shouts, and Dwayne shouts with him.
The boy looks up at them, still holding on to Star. His eyes are a steel glossing rouge, and his teeth are buried deeply in her neck.
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Trials and Tribulations
They're in the Frogs' living room. Star and Michael are on the couch together, she holding a piece of cloth to her neck, even though the bleeding has almost subsided, he with his arm around her, holding her close. Edgar is sitting in an armchair, bound and gagged. Laddie is cowering on the floor on the opposite side of the room, bound and gagged as well, with Alan and Sam standing guard over him.
Somehow, the boy seems to understand that his vampire family is present in the humans surrounding him. As Dwayne commanded him to allow himself to be bound, he didn't put up a fight.
Grandpa is still entertaining Edgar and Alan's parents in the shop, but Lucy has found her way upstairs, guided by the mental distress calls of her family. She's standing sentinel beside the door, looking out for possible disturbances.
For a long time, everyone's silent. Finally, Max states through Lucy: "That didn't go as expected."
"No," David agrees through Michael, but really, it could have come from anyone.
This is one fucked-up mess.
"He's … part of the family," Lucy says hesitantly. "We … we've got to take care of him."
"But how?" There's desperation in Star's voice. For two months, she had tried to shield Laddie from the Boys, and especially from becoming a vampire himself. Now the Boys are no longer vampires and have settled fairly peacefully into living vicariously through their hosts, enjoying the daylight and, so far, without murdering anyone. Star's life has returned almost to normal, home, job, boyfriend and all – and then that little boy from the past turns up again from out of the blue, changed into a bloodsucking monster.
"He's not a monster," Dwayne chides, using Alan to do so. "He's a vampire, that's all."
"But you've gotta admit he's dangerous," Michael argues. "We're all mortal, and he can't control himself."
"Aw, he's just young." Now it's Marko, talking through Star. "He'll get better with time."
"But we don't have time!" Sam almost shouts at him. "We gotta take him home tonight, before the sun comes up, and then we somehow have to care for him! He'll live with us, and he'll be hungry, he'll sneak into our rooms at night" –
"Not if you feed him," David cuts him off. "He's small, he wouldn't need that much … Maybe two pints a day … You're six people, so …"
They all stare at him, or rather at Michael.
David/Michael rolls his eyes. "What's having your panties in a bunch? Two of you every day, and each of you every third day. It's only a pint each, your bodies will replace it in no time at all. You won't miss it that much. It's not as if I suggested you hack a limb off."
They all look at each other, then at the small form of Laddie, bound and gagged on the floor. After some mental attunement, Alan kneels down and cuts his gag once again.
Laddie spits on the carpet and glares at them, one after the other.
"Are you … still thirsty?" Alan asks, haltingly. Immediately, Laddie's eyes light up.
"Michael, you're strongest. Step beside them, in case you have to dislodge Laddie," Max orders with Lucy's voice. Michael's raises his eyebrows, but does as he's told.
Slowly, Alan cuts Laddie's bonds. He looks as if he half expects the vampire boy to attack him as soon as he's able to move again, but Laddie doesn't. He just sits there and rubs his ankles, watching Alan intently. Eventually, and without much enthusiasm, Alan stretches out his arm, prepared to offer Laddie his wrist.
But Dwayne speaks from out of him: "I wouldn't do that if I were … Well, just don't."
Alan appears confused, possibly because someone gives him advice with his own voice, forming the words with his own mouth. "Why not?" he asks.
"Because being bitten there actually hurts the most. The upper arm's better, or the thigh – but I guess you don't wanna strip in here."
Without a word, Alan shrugs out of his jacket and pulls his sweater over his head.
"We would've come for you, Laddie," Dwayne says, gazing intently at him through Alan's eyes. "We've been back for only a few months, and we don't hold that much power over our hosts … In just a week, we would've come looking for you."
Laddie looks Dwayne/Alan straight into the eyes. "I came back for you," the boy says. "I had her turn me and came back for you. To make you whole again. To save you."
"I know, sonny," Dwayne answers, extending Alan's hand and ruffling Laddie's hair with it. "I know. We'll figure something out. But for now, just sate your thirst." With Alan's consent, he offers their shared arm to Laddie, and, hesitantly, the boy grabs it and moves closer. Then he turns the limb until he has found the artery, and bites.
Alan grunts. "I don't wanna know what it would've felt like at the wrist if this is the comfortable solution."
The vampires laugh.
There's a thump as Edgar brings his bound feet down with a vengeance. His face is red with fury. He's got everyone's attention now, and especially Laddie's. The vampire boy carefully releases Alan's arm, who immediately starts to apply pressure above the wound. Star has ravaged the medicine cabinet for bandages and disinfectant earlier on and is now handing him the leftovers, helping him to apply a proper dressing.
Laddie stands up with fluid grace and turns towards Edgar. He still has his vampire face on, and his expression is pure menace. But before he can attack, Lucy steps between him and Edgar. "No, Laddie," she says with Max's infliction. "I forbid it."
The boy halts in his tracks as if frozen.
"If you want to be part of this family, you will listen to me and Lucy, as well as to your older brothers and sister. And, ah, to your grandfather. Together, Lucy and I are the head of this clan. We might adopt you into it, but only if you follow our rules. Is this understood?"
Slowly, Laddie nods, a bemused look on his face.
"Very well. Even though Edgar is not part of the clan, he is the biological brother of Alan, who is currently housing Dwayne. Both Alan and Dwayne are your brothers, and therefore I demand that you step back and refrain from taking your anger out on this particular human. Do we have an agreement?"
Again, Laddie nods, staring curiously at Lucy/Max.
"Formidable. – Sam, take Edgar's gag out."
Sam shakes his head, weirded out by Max taking over his mum like this, but still follows the command. With fumbling fingers, he loosens the knot of the gag and lets the piece of cloth fall to the floor. Edgar coughs an unintelligible curse at him. He coughs once more, and then he starts yelling. "You!" he shouts, pointing a finger at Sam, who instinctively takes a step back. "Traitor! Cheat! You tricked my brother into" –
"Edgar, stop!" Alan says. He's still holding his arm, although it's now properly sanitized and dressed with a pressure bandage. "Sam didn't trick me into anything. Don't you understand …?" He breaks off, mumbling to himself: "No, probably not."
"Ed," he starts again, "my dearest brother." He says it without any irony, which is an accomplishment all of its own. "Please try to understand. I didn't want to leave you behind, but there was absolutely no way I could've taken you with me. Just look at this …" He makes a sweeping gesture that encompasses the whole room as well as everyone in it.
"I'm sharing mind and body with a vampire. How could I expect you to approve, or even tolerate? But, Ed … They didn't corrupt me. We don't engage in nightly killing sprees or robbing blood-banks or anything like that. We just … we just do things together, you know …? Harmless, normal things like a normal, well, almost normal family would. Like, homework, and cooking, and scrabble. – Man, this sounds dumb, but … Ed, I've found my family."
Alan has to swallow. Edgar's avoiding his eyes.
"I don't mean that I didn't have a family before," Alan says, a tad hastily, "but Grace and Walter … well, you know how they are. But, Ed … I still love you, bro … more than anyone else, really."
Finally, Edgar looks up, meeting his eyes. Alan pulls himself together, so that the following words come out with far more confidence than those before.
"I want you back, Edgar. I really do. But I don't see a way …"
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One for the Team
"This," Edgar states through gritted teeth, "is unhygienic."
Laddie grins up at him without extracting his teeth from Edgar's wrist.
"No, it's not," his brother's voice says, but Edgar knows that it's really Dwayne talking. "We explained it to you already. Vampire spit is anesthetic, and it's got healing properties. If you were to cut yourself with a knife, it would take far longer to mend."
"We still could use the proper gear for a blood donation!"
"And the risk of damaging you would still be higher, since no one here has had medical training. Our instincts, on the other hand, have always guided us well."
"Yeah, well, maybe apart from the one time you raided this house and got blown up by a stereo system … Ow! Stop it, you little shit!"
Apparently, Laddie has followed up with a bite harder than strictly necessary.
"Well, yeah, it's never good to remind a vampire of how you nearly extinguished his family." The evil smirk on his brother's lips is decidedly not Alan's. "… It's enough now, Laddie, let go of him."
Reluctantly, the little vampire releases Edgar's wrist. "You would taste so much better if you didn't eat that much garlic and raw eggs!" he complains.
Now it's Edgar's turn to smirk. "The hell I'll make myself any more appetizing to you! My special diet stays on!"
Alan laughs, and now it's really his brother speaking. "Oh, come on, Edgar! He has never ever tried to drain any of us dry! Max says he couldn't even stomach that much blood in one go!"
"Yeah, go ahead and trust the words of the top-bat on how save he and his satanic siblings are! Besides, Laddie likes you – but he doesn't like me. Right, shorty?"
Laddie flips him the bird, then jumps up and races out of the house and onto the front porch, where Star and Michael, and therefore also Marko and David, are currently hanging out, doing God knows what. Lucy's at work, accompanied by Sam, who's sounding out the situation for a possible summer job, Grandpa's at the widow Johnson's …
That leaves Edgar and Alan, alone with each other – if you don't count Dwayne, that is.
'I'll be practically indiscernible,' Dwayne promises inside Alan's head, and then he withdraws so far that Alan can hardly sense him anymore.
"So …" Edgar states. "This is what you call a family."
"Yeah," Alan confirms.
"They're sort of … nice … If you ignore that part of their personality is made up by vampires. And excluding the little shit, of course."
"You just fed him. Voluntarily."
Edgar looks a tad uncomfortable. "Well … I guess if you wanna be part of a team, you have to take one for the team, at least from time to time. Right?"
"Right."
"Besides, it's only once a week." A grin starts to form on Edgar's lips. "He said he couldn't stand my blood more often."
Alan grins back at him. "So …" he says after a pause. They are still looking at each other. "Are you gonna stay?"
Edgar takes an audible breath. "I don't know … Someone has to look after the store; and after Grace and Walter. And I'm not exactly comfortable with all those … whatever you call them around."
Alan tries to hide his disappointment. Edgar is trying, after all. "We could at least work at the shop together in the evenings. Business is mostly in the evenings anyway. Star has already said that she could ditch her job at the jewelry store if we need additional help in the daytime. And you know that Sam's looking for a summer job."
"Yeah."
"We could at least try it out …"
"I guess so …"
Silence.
"So … are we good again?" Alan asks after a while, apprehensive.
There's something lurking in the corners of Edgar's mouth. "We're brothers, aren't we?" he says.
"Yeah, we are. Brothers."
"The meanest?" Edgar asks, and now Alan knows what he was trying to hide.
"The baddest!" he replies, and they both smile widely.
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Options
The vampires are quite content inside their hosts.
After having lived in the dark for so long they enjoy the light immensely.
Going for a ride in the blazing California summer sun, bathing in the blue sea, lazing around on the beach … Getting up early, working in the garden while the air is still pleasantly cool … Fooling around in the bushes, kissing in the deep afternoon shade under a tree … Mingling with all kinds of people on the Boardwalk, eating ice-cream, slipping into the stifling warmth of a record- or bookstore …
Then there's family life. Going to work or to school, preparing food, cleaning the house, watching Grandpa practicing his strange hobby, arguing about what movie to watch (at long last, Grandpa has caved in and they now have a TV), horsing around, playing Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit …
With Laddie in their care, there's still the option of changing.
But for the time being, it's just that: an option.
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The End. For Now.