Author's notes:
Ran - And thus it begins. Cue the lightning and thunder, Igor!
Kage - You're in for a wild ride!
Lucy toyed with the phone cord, twirling it around one finger while she tried to get through. Three tries, and the line was still busy. How was that even possible? Dad never called anyone. Michael and Sam knew better than to long distance to Phoenix...and there was no way their deadbeat father would have cared enough to check how they were settling in.
Max had just asked her out for dinner, and she really wanted to go. But for the last two days, Michael had been staying out god knows where all night, stumbling home in the morning with hardly a word...she really needed to make sure he stayed home with Sam to keep an eye on his little brother for her.
Then again, maybe she was just more concerned about keeping him home than she was about Sam. Frankly, her youngest was showing an awful lot more common sense than Michael right now. Maybe it was just the move. He'd taken it pretty hard when he found out they were leaving Arizona behind, had hardly spoken a word to her anyway on the ride over until they'd been driving for at least an hour.
"Guess I'll just have to ask him when I get home," she sighed aloud. If Michael was even still at the house by then. If not, she supposed now was as good a time as any to give Sam a bit of extra responsibility. At least he was going to bed at night and staying home.
"Oh yeah? I bet you'd look great in that…" Sam whispered into the phone, huddled on his bed with a comic splayed over his knees. He was in love. Kinda. As soon as he remembered her name, Sam knew he could say he was in love.
"I'm so glad I met you," she sighed into his ear. Through the receiver. He'd never actively dated before, but he was beginning to get an idea why Mike seemed to always be so hot on it. Plus, she liked Superman...Superman! Some day, when she got rid of those braces, and maybe got a cup size or two behind her...she was going to be...amazing.
"So…" Sam gave the ceiling above him his best flirtatious smile, practice for when he got to see her again in person. Had to be sure he was at the top of his admittedly limited game. "...you really liked my top?"
"Ohmygosh! Yes! You've got...so much more taste than any of the losers around here. No mohawk or freaky headband...I almost didn't even go into that comic shop, but then when I saw you with those shoulder pads...and that rainbow button-up...Sam, I know it's like...super soon, but I think I'm falling for you."
"I am too...Di...Th...Sa...Uh...I like you so much, I can't remember your name," he stammered, quickly and (smoothly) covering his lie.
"Wow! That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me! It's Diana. Like Wonder Woman." She whispered the last part in the huskiest voice her squeaky vocal chords could muster. That was SO hot...
They went on like that for minutes. A couple of hours, even. It wasn't until Sam heard grandpa shuffling by in the hallway grumbling to himself about bills and wet toilet seats that he realized he'd probably have to cut it short. But maybe a few minutes more. It wasn't like anyone was trying to call them or anything. Sam seriously doubted grandpa had any friends who'd want to talk to him unless they were seriously desperate for a stuffed platypus. Ugh…
Once they'd said their good-byes, their final good-byes, their extra good-byes, and their bonus good-byes, Sam hopped off of his bed and gave Nanook a good scratch behind the ears.
"C'mon, let's go bother Mike, huh?" There was this warm water trick Sam learned back in Phoenix he'd been dying to try, and now seemed like the perfect chance. Plus, it'd get the jerk back for knocking milk all over his Superman #14.
Star woke up with a soft groan, her stomach throbbed with hunger but she wasn't going to do anything about it, she wasn't going to become one of them. She was worried, the longer she was around the boys the harder it was to resist, and Laddie, the little boy didn't deserve this. A soft growl made her look across the hotel, Laddie was crouched down by the fountain, his back to her. She scowled, quickly moving over to see what was going on. The sight before her made her cringe and gasp. Laddie was holding a rat possessively to his mouth, blood slipping over his fingers, his eyes gold with hunger. She pulled it away from him, they needed to leave as soon as they could. He growled, trying to get it back even though he was spitting out the foul tasting blood.
"Star, what're you doing?" David. She looked up, seeing the leader of the Lost Boys coming out of the crack that led to their sleeping area, "A rat? That's not going to help you."
"You wanted Michael to be my first." She put herself between David and the boy, "Why, if you were just going to give him that bottle?" She stood firm, dropping the rat, "I wasn't going to kill him then and I won't let Laddie become like you now."
He let out a snort, the other boys coming in behind him, "And what are you planning to do about it? Think Michael's going to be your white knight, ride in and save the day? Sorry, sweetheart, that's not how this works." The boys were coming closer now, "Your best bet would be to run. If you won't join the pack, if you're so set on holding on to your precious human weakness, then you're worthless to me." She felt trapped, surrounded, like they were laughing at her, mocking her. David brushed past her, settling into his chair, "As for Michael, I think he'll make a wonderful addition to the pack, unlike you."
The boys all seemed to just fade away, becoming background noise as she decided what she was going to do. Maybe Michael would come with them, maybe the three of them could run together. She had to convince him, had to show him that David and the boys would be the death of him.
Michael woke up with one of the worst headaches he'd had since...well...since ever. It was like he'd been holding his breath and testing his ability to withstand the force of an industrial clamp squeezing his brain for hours. Hours.
And what was with that freaky dream he had last night? Jumping off a bridge? Screaming until his throat was so raw he could swear he'd been swallowing sandpaper? Punching Sam out for sticking his hand in a glass of warm wa-...oh, no...that definitely happened. He was going to be in a shit load of trouble, too, when mom got home and saw the shiner proclaiming his guilt to the world. Funny, he wouldn't normally have gotten so mad over a stupid trick like that, but he'd just been...so tired. Hadn't been thinking. Great, now he felt like a jerk.
Cracking open his eyes, Michael turned his head towards the bedroom window. Still some light out, but not a lot. He felt around his bedside stand for his sunglasses and shoved them onto his face. Not much light, but not too great for his headache, either. The sun was going down, though. That meant mom was probably home, which also meant the almighty small but daunting shoe was about to fall if he didn't make like a tree and get the fuck out of there.
Jesus Christ, he could feel his pulse throbbing with his migraine. Whatever David put in that joint they were smoking, it would probably be a good idea to just...never try it again. Or at least not combine it with the tepid wine they'd been plying him with for the last two nights. Funny, he always thought wine was supposed to be chilled or something...but he had to admit something told him it wouldn't have tasted nearly as good. And it did taste good...really good.
There was no need to get dressed. Apparently he'd slept in his clothes...should probably take a shower, actually…
Nah, not worth the risk of being cornered by mom. Best to just sneak out now while he still had a chance. He knew this wasn't like him, acting like a punk, avoiding mom and hanging out at some musty wrecked hangout by the beach with a bunch of crazy bikers he barely knew. But they were pretty fun, and he felt a weird connection to them. Didn't really understand it. Then there was Star...and wow, she was just about the hottest chick he'd ever met. Yeah, maybe a little...what...fearful? Nervous? He didn't really know what the deal was with her and David, but he could tell she liked him. And he liked her, so...he was probably in there.
Shaking his head out of his thoughts, not wanting to get stuck in them long enough for mom to break into his room with a few choice words and Sam making faces at him behind her shoulder, Michael headed out.
He didn't notice grandpa staring after him through the workshop doors. Didn't notice Nanook lowering his ears as he passed the husky on the porch. But he did notice that the closer he got to his bike, and the closer it got to sundown, the less his head seemed to hurt.
David could feel Michael as he got closer, knew he was coming, and couldn't wait to see what Star was going to do. Dwayne was herding the others into the shadows, clapping a hand over Marko's big mouth. It wouldn't do to ruin the game, to show Michael that Star was crazy and not to be trusted. David followed soon after, catching a glimpse of his new halfling and making himself scarce.
'Dude, do you think this is gonna work?' Marko was licking Dwayne's Palm, trying to get him to let go but the dark haired vampire didn't budge.
David let out a soft snort, 'Of course it will, he's mine after all, not Max's.'
'Well, he is kind of an idiot, yeah, he's yours alright.' Paul snickered and Dwayne thumped him on the back of the head.
David glared at him, promising pain, before turning his gaze back to the spectacle that was about to unfold.
Star pressed a warm cloth dipped in salt water up against Laddie's face, scrubbing at the remaining tufts of dank fur and sticky dark blood. The smell was enough to send her stomach into another spasm, and it was so desperately hard to fight the urge to clean his face up with her tongue instead of a rag. But she knew it wouldn't satisfy, as if Laddie's reaction when he'd been trying to feed from that nasty rat hadn't been enough of a clue. David's little hint he'd dropped when he saw them convinced her. So she wrung out the cloth again, and finished wiping up his face.
"Laddie, I want you to go wait outside. When...if Michael shows up tonight, we're all going to go on a little trip together. Okay?" And maybe somehow being further away from the boys would make the hunger weaker. Maybe it would buy them some time...the hard part was going to be confessing everything to Michael. That included what they all were, and what he was becoming.
God, she hoped he'd listen to her. It was her fault he'd ended up in this mess. She'd found him, she'd led him on like a love-sick calf right up to David. But he couldn't have Michael. She wasn't going to let him get hurt. Star wanted to make it right. She had to make it right.
Laddie looked up at Star, wiping at his nose where a bit of fur was still clinging, tickling his nostrils. "Are we gonna go home, Star?"
"I hope so, Laddie," she kissed his forehead and urged him towards the jungle of rusted metal scraps and old bed frames that lined the exit. Pieces of people's lives tossed and shoved up like decorations. Old vines dripping down to lick at the dusty ground. If Star couldn't get Michael to leave with her, she knew he'd live long enough to see that jungle melt under rust and damp...and for a moment it looked like the metal was shifting towards her after Laddie left. It felt like the cave was getting smaller.
"Star?" Michael called out, trailing into the room. "David? Anybody here?" She watched him trail about the lobby, scooping that evil bottle up into his hands and sniffing at it, before shrugging and tossing it aside.
She snatched her shawl up from the couch and wrapped it tightly about her shoulders, "I'm right here, Michael."
"Hey," he spun about, smirking at her. "You the only one here tonight?"
"No...no, I'm not…" She looked up to the roof of the lobby, eyes darting about, just catching the sight of pigeons taking flight from the cave. For a moment, she envied how easy it must be for them. As far as she knew, there was no such thing as vampire pigeons, after all.
"So...you...want to grab that burger we talked about the other night?" He asked, stepping closer to her and tucking his hands into his pockets. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, and more than anything...she really wished she could just go out for that burger with him. Pretend none of this had ever happened, and that David had never come into their lives. In another world, maybe, they could be happy together. If she could figure out a way to make him leave with her and never come back, maybe they would.
"I don't really want a burger right now, Michael," Star reached out a hand towards his and he took it, looking into her face and then back down at her slender hand latched onto his like a lifeline.
"...You feeling okay?" He rasped, pulling off his sunglasses and tucking them into a jacket pocket.
"Michael, I need to tell you something important, and I need you to listen to me. I'm sorry I drug you into this, but David...Paul...Marko...Dwayne...they're going to kill me. They're going to kill you and Laddie too, if we don't get out of here right now!"
"Uh...what?!" Michael pulled his hand out of hers and she knew in that instant he didn't believe her. He was giving her this look...and she didn't know what to do but come out with it. Tell him the truth. Maybe the blood had already worked through him enough for this to be easier to believe. He'd certainly had a lot of it...much more than she'd had, anyway.
"They're...they're monsters, Michael. They want you to be one, too," she sobbed, throwing herself into his chest, "we need to go away before they can catch us. We need to get away before they can-"
"Star...listen to yourself." Michael grabbed her shoulders and stepped back a bit, tilting his head down, "if they're hurting you, then yeah...I think I can probably take you back home with me. But there's no way I'm ever hitting you, okay? I don't hit girls."
"That's not what I mean!" She protested, shaking her head wildly, hair flying about her face like a frenzied Maenad's. And in that moment, she saw the boys surrounding her, heard their cruel taunts digging into her brain, scratching at her skull. She pressed her hands to her ears and began to cry, "don't you see?! They're evil, Michael! They're vampires!"
Michael looked around, then back at her, and she finally seemed to see a note of fear creep into his eyes...but he wasn't afraid of them...he was backing away from her.
"Michael...Michael, I'm not like them. You're not like them. We're only half, and so is Laddie," she dropped her hands, reaching out and begging him with her eyes and words to just stop and listen. Wasn't the taunting and laughter around them enough to convince him? Couldn't he see?!
"Look, I really like you. I do, but...Star…" He looked down at his feet and then back up at her. She clapped her hands to her mouth and muffled a blood-curdling scream. He'd grown fangs, just like the rest of them, his eyes just as feral and golden...blood dripped from his mouth, and she realized then exactly what David had meant about him making a wonderful addition to the pack. Because somehow, some way, he already was!
"Calm down! What the hell are you on?!" He exclaimed, and the laughter grew even louder. So loud she thought her eardrums would explode.
I'm so sorry, Michael...I'm so sorry I brought you into this...I'm so sorry they killed you...she wept, dashing from the lobby in a fit of tears, bare feet cutting into a broken bottle and leaving spots of her own blood behind her. If she'd been thinking with a level head, she might have realized everything she'd just seen and heard was only an illusion…
Michael stared after Star, confused and a little scared at the same time. Not scared of the guys. They hadn't given him any reason to think they were anything more than a bit foolhardy, maybe even a bit wild...and now he was realizing he'd come within moments of making a massive mistake. Star was nuts...that was the only explanation for the weird episode that had just played out in front of him. She even thought they were...vampires?!
Maybe she was taking hits of acid or something. And it finally just came back to bite her in the ass. He couldn't help but wonder if this was a routine with her, and maybe she'd come stumbling back a few hours later acting like nothing had happened. Michael crossed his arms and strolled towards the ratty couch, wondering whether it would just be better to go home and never come back. If she acted like this on an off night, there was no telling what would happen when the guys showed up. Hell, they could be more batshit than Star.
He didn't really know why his feet protested with his decision to leave, or why he felt compelled to just sit down and wait. But he did. And he really hoped he wasn't going to regret that later…
"Well, look what the cat dragged in. Michael, you're looking a little," the bleach blonde looked thoughtful, "confused. Something on your mind?" David seemed to appear from nowhere, settling himself like a king in his wheelchair throne. He rolled closer to the brunette, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. He glanced around, "Thought I saw Star earlier." He shrugged, "So, talk to me."
Michael jerked up, startled by David's arrival. Damn...where did he come from? "Uh...you...does she take meds or something? She was acting...funny…" He smiled weakly, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, is she like that all the time?" Michael really hoped he didn't have an unwitting attraction to mental patients. That would be just his luck, too. Parents divorced. Dad a jerk. Sam a dork. Mom hopelessly addicted to making poor choices...and him...with a taste for crazy.
"Star?" He raised an eyebrow, "What'd she do this time?" He sighed. Of course she was totally sane but Michael didn't need to know that and after the spectacle she put on from David's mind tricks, well, of course she's crazy, "I swear she's been getting into shit she shouldn't. It wouldn't surprise me if she was high. Been thinking about making her leave for awhile now, what'd she do to you?" He made a show of looking for wounds, "Doesn't look like she went feral."
"Feral?" Michael scowled, "like...she actually...she attacks people?!" He practically yelped, growing more and more uncomfortable with the 'what if' scenarios in his head playing out. Like...what if they'd decided to do the deed? Would she have just gone nuts and tried to scratch or bite his...oh god, he didn't even want to go there.
Taking a deep breath, Michael tried to calm himself, "she said a lot of stuff. Called you guys monsters...vampires...then she screamed her head off and went running outside like I was going to kill her or something and then…" he nodded towards the trail of blood spots in the dirt...and then he had to make himself look away. There was...something about that...it made him feel kinda funny. Was crazy contagious?
David tossed his head back and laughed, the sound filling the room, "She scratched Paul once, was about that time I was gonna make her leave but she seemed to do better so I didn't push it, but now, well, if she comes back…" He shrugged, "Monsters, vampires," he shook his head, "what do you think we are, Michael?" He licked his lips slowly, "Do you think we're monsters?" His voice was low and calming, almost seductive.
"Monsters?" Michael repeated, eyes half-closed. For a moment, he felt like he was sinking forward...then he caught himself and pulled back, shaking his head and laughing a bit nervously, "nah. Not monsters. Assholes, maybe, but I guess you're alright." He paused. "So...you and Star...were you two dating, then, or something?"
He shook his head, "Nah, if anything it was casual. We gave her a place to stay, she ran off from Oregon, Washington, I dunno, but I've got a soft spot for the lost ones." He chuckled softly, "Took you in, didn't I?" He was teasing, Michael was lost, he just didn't know it yet.
Michael wasn't sure how to respond to that. David and his friends had a weird sense of humor, and so far he'd only really followed half of the jokes. But at least they weren't trying to make him drive off a cliff again. Wasn't too sure he'd let that slide a second time.
"So…" Michael licked his lips, "you guys have any plans tonight, or just hanging out here?"
"Plans tonight, I was thinking we'd head to the boardwalk, show you a good time, have a little fun." He looked him over, "Maybe get you a new pair of boots, those shoes are shit, won't last you long. I'm glad you showed up tonight."
Michael's eyes flicked down to his worn-out sneakers and then back up to David, "I don't really have the cash for that." He plucked at his jacket, "kinda blew it all on this. Don't really want to spend another day picking trash off the beach. Even had some assholes kick sand in my face when I took a break. Man, the surfers around here a real dicks. Would've beat the shit out of them if I wasn't on the clock."
David grinned, "Don't worry about the cost, you're one of us, we look after our own." He paused for a moment, "As for the surf nazis, we have a long running...rivalry, with them. Maybe they'll get it through their heads not to mess with you once you've spent some more time with us. Was a good choice on the jacket." He grinned, "Just need to get the rest of you matching."
Shaking his head, Michael couldn't help but laugh, "you don't take no for an answer, do you?"
David's smile was dark, "Never."
