In Limbo

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Disclaimer: Neither The Lost Boys nor Fright Night nor Near Dark are mine. All rights go to their respective owners. No money is being made with this story.

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Chapter 1

Jerry Dandridge, the fabulous vampire, had been sitting in the dark and – for want of a nice human vein – biting and picking at his nails for quite some time when, suddenly, a dim light began pulsing in the blackness. Moments later, none other than Max Fairbanks, long ago known as Radu the Fair, materialized in front of him.

"Oh dear," Jerry sighed. "You too, huh?"

Max blinked at him from behind his unnecessary glasses like a huge, befuddled owl. Then recognition dawned in his eyes. "Jerry!" he said in bemusement. "Whatever brought you here?"

Jerry sighed again. He knew that he sounded theatrical, but he didn't care. "Women, I guess," he replied vaguely.

Max was quiet for a moment. "Me as well," he admitted at last.

"Again?" Jerry smirked.

"It was not the first time for you either, so do not look so smug, my friend."

"Well, in fact" –

Jerry was cut short by a second newcomer. "Jesse!" he greeted, but only after a considerable moment of hesitation. "What an … unpleasant surprise. I never expected to meet you here."

Max inclined his head in a polite, if cautious gesture of welcome.

Jesse Hooker looked around himself, bewildered, while dusting off his coat with mechanical movements. "Aye, Jerry. Max … Where exactly is … here?" he asked.

"Oh, I forgot," Jerry replied pleasantly. "You're still so young, and it's your first time …"

Jesse furrowed his brows at him. "I fought for the South, man."

"Yes, yes, we know that, my friend." Jerry beamed at him even while brushing him off dismissively. "But it's just that Max and myself are a little bit older, you know … by a few hundred years or so."

"But where are we?" Jesse inquired again. "I remember us on fire, Diamondback and me … Homer all burnt … Severen destroyed …" He sounded distraught.

"Do not worry, Jesse," Max said. He had been trying for a soothing tone, but failed at it for lack of genuine emotion for the Southerner. "I am sure they will join us soon. It is always like this, you know. My boys preceded me this time. They must be around here somewhere …"

Jesse's face knit in confusion and annoyance. "Ya still haven't told me" –

"This is limbo, Jesse," Jerry interrupted him. "You know we're immortal, yes?"

"O' course!" Jesse snapped. "Dontcha lecture me on" –

"Well, we truly are," Max interceded. "We can never leave. We cannot … pass on. So when our bodies are destroyed, we linger."

Jesse raised his eyebrows. "Here? In this … this … What exactly is this?!"

Max shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. It is completely insubstantial. Only darkness. We can see and touch each other, but there is nothing else. There is a feeling of direction though, and something like solid ground."

"And what're we supposed to do here?" Jesse inquired, bemused.

Jerry smiled at him. It wasn't altogether friendly. "To wait. To regroup."

"Ya mean … We do leave here again?"

"Of course," Max replied in Jerry's stead. "We always leave and enter back into the world. It is just a matter of time."

There was some commotion beside them. Several lights appeared and morphed into four seemingly young men almost simultaneously. Max's face lit up into a huge smile. "Boys," he said fondly, extending his arms and moving to embrace every one of them. Marko came first, then Dwayne, Paul, and finally David. They didn't seem to share Max's enthusiasm though and appeared as bewildered as Jesse had been upon his arrival.

"Boys," Max told them, his voice beaming with affection and pride, "there is no need to worry. I will explain shortly were we are and what we are going to do, but first: meet Jerry and Jesse. Jerry, Jesse, these are my boys: David, Dwayne, Paul, and Marko. They have been with me for eighty years now. It was my brother who sired them, but since Vlad met his – if only temporary – end and decided to return to our native land … well, they are mine now. – Boys, this is Jerry Dandrigde, a fine English gentleman who originates back in the seventeenth century, and this is Jesse Hooker, a valiant American who fought for the South back in the Civil War. These two and I have met on a few occasions during our long lives, especially Jerry and I, although it grieves me to say that we have not found the time for a family gathering in the last century or so."

"I guess we could call this a family gathering," Jerry mused. "Or rather, a gathering of the tribes. Even if the circumstances are not entirely agreeable."

"We could," Max acclaimed.

"That mean we havin' a party?" The rough, fevered voice sounded out of a newly expanding light. Severen molded himself from the darkness and was instantly eyed with interest and appreciation by Max's boys. Shortly afterwards, Homer appeared, and Dwayne fixed his dark gaze upon him. Next was Diamondback. She was greeted by Jesse with a shout of joy and a bear-hug.

Meanwhile, Jerry had returned to picking his nails. "Are we complete then? I guess it'll be no use waiting for Billy. He was not a vampire, after all. Maybe I should have chosen a hellhound instead of a demon as daytime protector. But then again, Billy was so much more than just a guardian to me …"

"What a pity," Max commented, not sounding overly empathetic. "But, alas, my faithful Thorn couldn't help me either. I wonder what became of him … – Ah, and there is one thing I want to clarify, since David is now here. Actually, it was not the woman I chose who proved to be our downfall, but a girl who reminded my boy of a certain Russian princess that" –

"Don't talk 'bout her!" David snapped at him. "Don't you think I despise myself already enough for this? For choosing her, when she caused all of my brothers to be killed, as well as you and myself?"

"Women …" Jerry sighed. "Maybe we should concentrate on boys solely. It never seems to work out with women …"

Jesse leered at them. "Dontcha include me in yer sappy tirade. Ya just have to choose the right kind o' woman." He drew Diamondback closer, who barked out an approving laugh. She wore a smirk almost identical to his own.

"I see," Jerry commented dryly.

Max then explained in short the rules of the place to his boys and the other newcomers.

"So how long will it take till we go back?" Homer asked. "This here place seems kinda boring …"

"It depends on the severity of the damage done to your body," Max answered.

Homer's face fell. "I don't think there's anything but ashes left of mine …" he muttered, distressed.

Severen stepped up to him and slapped him on the shoulder. "Dontcha worry, kiddo. I betcha there ain't much of any of us left."

Homer grimaced, perhaps at the word 'kiddo', perhaps at the gruesome thought of all of them in ashes.

"Maybe not of your bunch," David interjected. "I, on the other hand, left a fairly intact body behind – at least as far as I know."

Jerry's eyes lightened up with interest. "Maybe we could use that to our advantage. If you're able to return sooner, you could do some scouting for us … We're all planning on revenge, aren't we? On getting back what belongs to us? On getting even with the ones who wronged us?"

"I'm not" – David began, but was immediately cut off by Max.

"That is a formidable idea, Jerry. Let us see … I, for one, want my Lucy back. She had nothing to do with our destruction."

"Michael's mine," David instantly claimed. "Star can go to hell, for all I care – and I want the heads of those slimy tadpoles on a platter. I might spare Sam, if I'm in the mood for it."

"I want Laddie," Dwayne added briskly.

Max shook his head. "Child vampires are bad news."

Homer huffed, throwing him a dirty glare.

"No, Homer, not even you can deny that," Max chided. "Especially not you."

Homer did not deny it. "I want Mae dead," he said instead. "Mae and Caleb. And I wanna" –

"Hell, yeah!" Severen interrupted. There was a mad glint in his eyes. "I wanna rip that asshole's balls off and swallow 'em in front of his eyes. Then I'll plug his eyes out and eat 'em like grapes. Then I'll" –

"I am sure we all got the picture, Severen," Max cut him off. He seemed slightly disgusted.

"And I want that lil girl, Sarah," Homer calmly continued.

"As I said before, Homer" –

"It ain't yer place to lecture me, Max!" Homer's eyes were ablaze with anger. "I'm older than Jess, and just because I accepted his protection and yer older than me and all don't mean that yer 'bove me and I gotta listen to yer crap. Jess knows what I am, what we are. He don't try to pretend otherwise – as ya so foolishly do."

That certainly rubbed Max the wrong way – or the right way, in that it annoyed him just as much as Homer had intended. But before he could step up to the challenge, Jerry interceded.

"Guys, guys … We're all friends here, aren't we? Instead of flying at each other's throats, we should rather hold a war council to decide what to do with our real enemies – the ones that almost destroyed us. Sending David out to scout" –

David looked miffed. "I will not" –

"Silence!" Max roared at him. "Listen to your elders, for hell's sake! If you had listened to me, we would not be here in the first place!"

David gave him his best patented smirk. "Really? I thought it was just the other way round …"

For a second, Max morphed. He hissed at David, who took a step back and held his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, I am listening."

Jerry, who had send suffering looks into the darkness above while they had been at it, started anew. "David, if you'd be kind enough to scout for us while we're still stuck here, we'd all have a fairly good chance of making effective plans for revenge. I take it that most of us had their bodies severely damaged?"

There were sinister nods and sounds of affirmation all around.

"So it'll likely take our earthly shells years to heal or rebuild themselves so far that we can make use of them again. For that time, we will be forced to stay here – together, as it seems. So we should try and make the best of it. Meanwhile, David could monitor our foes in the outside world, and when the time comes, we could all go after them – together."

A part of the vampires present had apparently already taken to this idea. Severen had edged towards the Lost Boys, while Dwayne had stepped away from the group to get closer to Homer.

Homer grinned up at Dwayne provocatively. "I'm no child," he told the Lost Boy. "Even if look like one. I don't need someone to cuddle and coddle me."

"So what?" Dwayne shrugged at him, leering.

"So I'm older than you, chief," Homer rebutted, his dirty smirk turning feral.

Dwayne shook his head slightly at the mocking title, a look of annoyance on his face and an unmistakable warning in his eyes. He didn't like insults aimed at his ethnicity. In fact, he didn't like to be insulted at all.

Severen stepped up to Homer and put a hand on his sibling's shoulder. "Dontcha pick a fight, bud," he chided. "Older ya may be, but he's still stronger."

Jerry was impatiently tapping his fingers on his knee. "I was just explaining my, I dare say, rather ingenious plan, so could you three kindly shut your traps and postpone whatever indecencies you're planning until I've finished?"

Marko chuckled from behind a gloved fist, while Dwayne, Homer and Severen all turned their angry glares at Jerry.

Ignoring them, Jerry continued with his musings. "So, who's on my personal death-worthy foe list? Let's see … That crackpot Peter Vincent, of course, that despicable Brewster boy, then his mum, because it would be cruel to take her only child and let her live … I want Ed back, for he would make … well, not a replacement for Billy, but maybe a halfway decent servant … At least he's loyal … Then I want my Amy back …"

"Excuse me, Jerry …" Max interrupted him politely. "Would you care to tell us what happened to you before we make plans together? We do not know who those people are you just mentioned. What exactly brought you here?"

It did not go unnoticed by Jesse that Max asked for details from Jerry where he had shown neither interest in Homer's ramblings nor elaborated on his own experiences. He was just about to say something, which would have been rather unfriendly, when his spouse beat him to it – but in a slightly different spirit.

"Oh yeah, let's swap stories!" Diamondback chimed, plopping down on the invisible ground next to Jerry.

"That would actually give me a chance to figure out why everything went so spectacularly wrong with Lucy and her sons in the end," Max said.

"Very well," Jerry stated. "I guess I start, then …"

It took them a while to tell their respective stories, but at long last, everyone present understood the burning rage and need for revenge all of them were consumed with.

"It is simply unbelievable," Max said, shaking his head, "what can happen to you if you are kind enough to share the gift of immortality with an unsagacious human."

"With what?" Severen asked, befuddled. "Say that in English again?"

"He means," David explained helpfully, "that we've gotta be very, very careful who we introduce into our families – choose the wrong ones, and they'll burn your asses to cinder."

"Yeah, that 'bout right, man," Severen agreed dolefully. "And I even gave him one of my spurs … that dirty, bitchin' motherfucker."

"I must say," Jerry stated, looking at each of the Lost Boys in turn, "that you died rather creative deaths. Especially you two." He nodded towards Paul and Dwayne. "I mean … most of us burned. That's fairly common. But being electrocuted … well, at least you exploded in the end, Dwayne. Melting in a tub full of holy water, on the other hand …" He visibly shuddered.

Paul hadn't said anything up until now, which was quite unusual for him, and had kept close to his brothers, to Marko in particular. "Yeah …" he muttered lowly. "It wasn't fun."

At this, Marko huddled even closer to him, squeezing his shoulder. Paul leaned into him, closing his eyes.

Max frowned. Could a vampire be traumatized? Paul didn't look well at all.

"Are you alright?" he asked carefully.

To his dismay, Paul shook his head.

"Can I …" Max hesitated. "Can I help you somehow?" He half expected one of the others, especially Jesse's gang, to poke fun at Paul, but everyone remained silent – Paul included.

It took his boy more than a minute until he spoke up: "I dunno." He seemed to almost choke on his words.

"Aw, poor baby," Diamondback cooed. To Max's alarm, she got up and went over to Paul. Max had only met her twice before and had gotten to know her as a vicious and volatile woman. He could hardly believe that she had any maternal qualities. But apparently, she had. She went on her knees in front of Paul, who looked at her in bewilderment, and pulled him into her arms.

Max shared a confused glance with Marko.

"Don't bottle it up, sonny," Diamondback spoke into Paul's mane of hair. "Let it all out … Ya'll feel better – promise."

Paul was shaking in her arms. With a sudden jolt, Max realized that his boy was crying. Actually crying.

There was an embarrassed silence all around, only broken by Paul's sobs, which were muffled against Diamondback's voluptuous bosom.

It was David who spoke first. "I'm really glad," he said, his voice rough, "that we've not been separated. I didn't know this place existed. When …" His voice caught. "When we lost you, Marko … I thought it was forever."

He shared a long look with Marko.

"And then … Paul, when you died … when I felt you … dissolving … I couldn't bear …"

Paul didn't look up, to engulfed in his own emotions, but Dwayne wordlessly laid a hand on David's shoulder.

"After that …" David continued with an effort, "after that, when I heard your screams, Dwayne … I … when I confronted Michael, I didn't want to win the fight. I … I just couldn't imagine to go on without you all. I wanted to cease."

Astonished, Max watched his strongest son, the leader of his boys, fall apart in front of his eyes. Then, as if in a domino effect, Dwayne and Marko came undone as well. His sons embraced, kneeling down to include Paul, who was still weeping in Diamondback's arms, and now there were actual tears in all of their eyes.

Max felt a lump in his throat, but he drew himself together forcibly. It wouldn't do to lose face in the presence of Jerry and Jesse.

As he turned aside to gauge the reactions of the other vampires, he saw to his surprise that Jesse had his arms slung around Severen and Homer's shoulders, drawing them close. Homer didn't look too happy about it, but Severen leaned against their leader as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And maybe it was. Max had always known that Jesse was fiercely protective of his family, but he hadn't expected him to display any emotions of this kind in public.

When he turned to Jerry, he noticed that the other vampire seemed rather forlorn. Jerry was the only one who had arrived without anyone else, after all. They shared a long glance with each other. For both of them, it wasn't the first time that they had come to at this place, but they had always been alone, biding their time in the dark with only their own thoughts for company until they could reenter their earthly shells. It was strange to be here with others, family, friends, and rivals alike.

Max wondered what would come out of it.