"Since you felt the need to disobey me; I took it upon myself to act in your place." Max said to the four boys before him.

He had never met such an unruly, rebellious quartet of ruffians, in his day the youth respected and honored their elders. David the leader of this pack only sneered at him, but he kept silent. At his feet was a girl with long black hair; wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and he hair was mussed and wavy wild. She was crying, her hand was clutching his booted leg; her other arm was wrapped around a boy no more than ten. He had ordered them to take and change the girl, but they refused, and as always did what they wanted to do. The older man then turned to leave, but before he did he placed an ornate dust covered bottle on the nearest table.

"If you disobey me again, you shan't see the light of the next full moon." Max then left.

As the elder he had powers the others did not have; he was stronger than them all, but even with all these advantages he could not rein in the unruly gang of Santa Clara vampires. He wondered how old David really was to show such defiance.

-The Boys—

Once Max left, David knelt down and checked the girl over, Dwayne coaxed the little boy his way and did the same. They pair had drunk Max's blood, but had not yet started to transform. Max acted like a brat prince; who if he did not get his way would throw fit, and then do horrendous deeds to get what he wanted.

Marko and Paul were cursing loudly, but they became silent with one look from David.

The shocking blond looked at the girl. "What's your name?"

"S…Sara." She sniffled.

David pulled her to her feet; he introduced her to Marko, Paul, and Dwayne; the boys said nothing but nodded in her direction.

Dwayne pulled the boy up. "And this young buck is Lance."

David then showed her to a seat and sat her down; the boys stood behind him. "So what happened?

"I didn't want to do it! He seemed so nice you know; we h…had dinner and then he got all handsy. I fought him off, but he wouldn't stop. H…hit me and when I woke up, the kid was there scared out of his mind…" Star rapidly told them. "He gave me a choice. I drink it…or he forces it on the boy. S.. I drank this stuff; it tasted awful, and then I started feeling all woozy. "She went on. "I couldn't focus, and I saw him smile and give the stuff to the kid anyway. When I woke up, we were here and he forced me into the cave and then at you guys." She finished.

David nodded, Max had been trying to be their leader; the old timer was giving them orders, telling them who to attack, and who to change. David and the others refused, Marko, Paul, and Dwayne were made by him. Many eras had passed since he became what he was; he had selected his friends and changed them when they had wanted it. That's why in this and the surrounding area there were only four of them. This was their territory, and they kept their domain clean and body free. The amusement park and boardwalk were the ideal hunting grounds; as time advanced one had to pick and choose from the people, no one too old or too young, no drug addicts, or diseased ridden types. They fed mostly on criminal types, rapists, abusers, the type who when missing are rarely missed. Until now their feedings had been unnoticed, until Max came along, the man was like a locust. Every night at the Boardwalk and in Town more and more missing posters were being hung. Something had to be done with Max; and it had to be soon, but David knew that killing him would only cause a blood hunt among the vampire nation. He did not feel like being hunted or killed, by other vampires.

"What are we going to do David?" Marko asked.

He was the newest member of their little group; his eyes still held a deep innocence, he was loyal, and a good friend.

Dwayne nodded. "Yea if anyone comes looking for them, we'll be screwed."

Dwayne was older then Paul and Marko, but younger than David.

His dark hair and deep dark eyes made him look formidable; he was a trustworthy and strong right hand man. "We can't afford to have cops sniffing around here."

Paul said nothing he simply waited to hear some suggestions so he could put his two cents in. Paul was smart, but he hid it well behind a brash mouth, and corny jokes.

David stood up and walked around the main room of their cave which held remnants of the grand hotel that once adorned the cliff above. He circled the fountain in the middle of the hollow; then stopped and looked out at everyone, his ice blue eyes sparkling. He had a brilliant plan, but unfortunately it was not one what would be completed in a day or two. This would take time, hard work, and a lot of practice; he knew the boys would play their parts perfectly.

He looked over at the girl and little boy, "We will need your help as well, but first I need to know, do you have family?"

"I…I ran away. I couldn't stand being beaten nightly by my Dad; Mom wouldn't help me, so…so I just left." She shook her head.

He knew many women who were merely punching bags for their husbands, but the laws favored men; beaten women always made out to be the reason the house was unhappy and unstable. David nodded and then looked at the boy.

The kid only shrugged. "It's a home with lots of kids; I barely think they know my name."

David looked at him and then nodded; the kid was an orphan, probably moved around from foster home to foster home. The way the kid was talking, it seemed like his foster parents were only after the free money, and packed the house full of kids. The kid was pretty dirty and thin, and his clothes were too big for him and rather threadbare.

-The Plan-

The first thing the boys did was set up a spot for the girl and boy to sleep; Paul had found a bed in one of the other caves, and piece by piece they rebuilt it in the main room of the cave. The bed was a canopy bed, and the girl decorated it with flimsy, glitter material she pocketed from the sellers on the boardwalk. David had made them change their names; last names were not important, the girl called herself Star, and the boy just went with Laddie. It took years and David and the boys worked to strengthen not only their minds, but their physical beings. They worked with Star and Laddie too, keeping them fed, but not allowing them to kill. They would never be like him or the boys, their meeting with Max had scarred them for life.

Santa Clara had become a dump with not much to offer anyone jet-set or important; the only thing that was increasing in number was the missing person's flyers. David wondered if they could really pull this off, more and more Max was making his presence known, and his kills were getting more and more vicious.

Then one day Dwayne had spotted the perfect patsies; on the outside they acted like their normal punk selves. They started a fight on the carousel with some thugs; it was fun, and it drew Max in, who killed the rent-a-cop who was minding the park. After they fed and slept they readied the plan they had worked on for years; they got Star dolled up in gypsy like clothes, but lighter in color, and sparkly, until she looked positively ethereal.

It was working so well, Star had hooked Michael the older brother, Sam had found the two dipsticks, the Frog Brothers, and Max had discovered the Mother. The boys knew she was his type, kind, soft spoken, well dressed, and with an instant family. It did not take long to Michael to fall into their snare; he was intimidated by David's alpha rank, but he was enamored with Star, and his mind was simple to trick.

David played his part well; knowing from reading the teen, how and when to push Michael's buttons, until the teen was seething. He and the boys laughing at him in front of Star pushed the boy over and made him and easy pigeon. Angered by the jokes they played on him he willingly drank Max's blood in prideful gulps; Sam played his part well, fueled by his brother's change, and the crap the Frog brothers were feeding him. The two so called hunters learned all their vampire knowledge from comic books inked in the forty's, fifty's, sixty's, and seventy's. They took Mike on a hunt; it was child's play taking down the biker gang that was setting up shop in their territory, the gangs blood was tainted by drugs so they made the feeding as gory as they could. After the teen fled like a scared rabbit; they got some good blood in the next city over from Santa Clara.

David sent Star to motivate the Emerson boys, and she really did not have to do much; a little pleading, and then flying up to the second story. Star was a little upset when she came back to the cave; apparently Michael blamed her for his predicament, and she threw things and threated to kill the teen herself. Marko went over to talk to her and calm her down; he was always good at being the serene one, he made her laugh and waxed a little poetry to her and soon she was in good spirits again.

Day came and like clockwork their home was invaded, once in their lair, the boys and David took over their minds, and it was easy to weave an illusion around them. Even sleeping the vampires could toy with a mortal's mind. The Frogs thought they staked Marko, like it was that easy to impale someone with the stake, in the movies at least the hunter had a hammer. They laughed at the reactions of Sam, Edgar and Alan when David was chasing them like a wild beast. David was laughing and nursing the burn on his hand; once they fed it would be totally healed.

-The Attack-

Once night fell, the boy's fed, and then they flew to the Emerson's house. On the way David lectured them about the tools of the idiot vampire hunter. All the stuff they know that will be used against them is pure myth, or from lore about corpses. Garlic does not deter vampires; it was used to mask the scent of death. Holy water, silver, and crosses symbols of good used to ward off evil; useless against vampires because who really truly devoutly believes in God, not your neighborhood priest who says mass in the morning and is molesting young children in the afternoon, in the end these are just things. A wooden stake through the heart, preferably ash, pure myth, a vampire's heart no longer beats, it is not used to pump blood, so what purpose does it serve to pierce it? He told the boys to avoid fire, and getting beheaded, he really did not want to find out if that part of vampire hunting was true.

The fake attack was over relatively quick; Paul made it look like he melted in the tub of holy water and garlic, when the Frogs were done patting themselves on the back they left, and Paul went out the window. He joined Marko in the field where they concentrated on strengthening the illusion. Dwayne pulled out all the stops and made it seem like he bought the farm in a magnificent rock and roll explosion that littered the room in meaty bits. Once left alone he too left and joined his brothers outside.

"What ya use for meat?" Paul who was soaking wet asked.

Dwayne shrugged. "Pig, I am a big guy after all."

Marko shushed them, and they fell in line. The three had not counted on Laddie losing control and going all wild kingdom in the house; Star protected the kid, and worked to calm him down. David latched on to the boy's mind and lulled him to sleep. David goaded Mike into an aerial battle, and the two went back and forth until David was impaled on antlers; he gave himself a dramatic death scene. Max entered, and actually mourned impaled David's corpse; he must have been drawn to how innocent the blonde looked in the light.

Once left out of the picture David joined everyone and between them the illusion was the strongest it could be; they boys felt the boost as their leader added his mind to what they were creating. They heard screaming inside the house, and they knew Max had revealed himself; Lucy was stepping up to protect her family. The old man's truck rocketed towards the house; they had messed with his brakes, and the binding on his fence poles. The truck crashed into the house and a pole flew into the room; Mike at least learned something from David, as he made sure Max was impaled and hurled into the fireplace. The elder vampire burst into flames, and they could feel, see, and smell his death. Star, Mike, and Laddie were human again, and The Lost Boy's had their territory again. They watched from the ridge as Lucy hauled everyone out of the house; she refused to stay in the wreck. Star was looking around, as the older woman shoved and piled everyone into her little Jeep; she finally caught sight of the guys who had helped her so much. She gave them a little wave and nod as Mike followed his brother and the Frog's into the car.

-End-

They took to the air relieved, and knackered, but they had one more thing to do. Before the sun rose the next morning they took the bottle with Max's blood outside and poured it on the rocks to be burnt away by the sun. Tonight they would hunt, and then make plans on fortifying, and making their seaside home idiot proof.