It was a quiet evening in the Cave. The Boys hadn't left for the Boardwalk yet, for their nightly prowl amongst the tourists. They seemed to take their time going out in the winter months, since the Boardwalk's hours of operation changed to just weekends, and depended on the weather.
Marko had already gone out and returned with a bag of hamburgers and fries, for Star and Laddie. Star supposed it was one thing the Boys did without question: making sure she and the boy child were fed. David occasionally grumbled about her 'getting on with it' but she was steadfast in her resolve to not take the final plunge.
Not yet.
She had good reason to wait.
Laddie munched on fries, resistant to eating the hamburger in favor of the greasy, deep fried potatoes. Star picked at her burger, forcing herself to eat. Food was losing its flavor, her interest in it waning, the longer she remained a half vampire.
Rock music pumped out of the speakers of the damaged boom box, Paul affixing more electrical tape to the backside in order to keep the batteries in. Dwayne was rooting through a box that appeared to be filled with old maps of all types and sizes. Marko was off with the pigeons, having stolen some fries from the paper bag to feed them with.
David was brooding in the wheelchair. Just like any other night that started off slow.
She didn't notice Laddie slip away and join Dwayne, his small hands digging through the pile of folded papers. When Dwayne was distracted, the little boy grabbed a paper map and bolted back to the safety of Star, where she was sitting on the old twin mattress piled with odd cushions that made her bed.
"Hey!" Dwayne growled, startled.
David frowned, looking at Star. "I thought I told you to keep the kid under control."
"Chill out, D, no harm. He can have the map." Dwayne tried to diffuse the situation.
"Laddie's bored, David. He's a child. He needs something to occupy his mind." Star pulled Laddie to sit on the mattress with her, taking the map from his grubby hands and replacing it with the burger. "Eat." She directed the boy.
"It's cold!" He whined.
"Well, too bad. I told you to eat it when it was hot." She reminded him. Laddie pulled a face but took a bite of the hamburger just the same.
David returned to his silence. Dwayne smiled at Star before turning back to the box of maps.
Star was about to toss the map and forget about it when she saw something written in pen on the folded paper. Wiping her hands on a paper napkin, she unfolded the crinkled and aged paper, spreading it out over her lap. The map was very old, well worn in places from being folded, and parts had been marked, names had been circled. It looked like a plat map, from maybe two hundred years ago. Santa Carla wasn't shown but she traced her finger northwards, along the coastline.
"Half Moon Bay," she read aloud softly.
The map was ripped out of her hands, startling her. Star cried out in shock as David balled the paper up and tossed it into one of the burning oil drums. "You forget about Half Moon Bay!" His voice was dark and angry, matching his countenance.
"But why?"
"Los Lobitos!" Paul cackled, lighting a joint as he sat on the edge of the broken fountain next to the boom box. "The Little Wolves."
"There's nothing little about them." David growled, still looming over Star. The dark-haired girl put her arm about Laddie, pulling him against her side.
"The 'little wolves'? What are you talking about?"
"There's a den of werewolves that run Half Moon Bay." Marko came out of the shadows, a pigeon on his shoulder, another on his forearm. "Los Lobitos. Rumor has it they're responsible for the demise of Purissima. Wiped the whole village out."
Star bit her lip in confusion. "Purissima?"
"Yeah, a town built on logging and agriculture. It's a ghost town, or a graveyard, since that's all that's really left of it."
"I didn't know werewolves existed…" Star looked at David, who'd backed up a bit, still frowning.
"You didn't need to know." He turned half way to glare at Paul and Marko. "We have no beef with the wolves; we stay out of their territory. Can't really rely on them to stay out of Santa Carla but so long as they don't cause trouble or bother us, I don't really care."
Star pushed her hair back from her face, digesting this knew bit of information. "Vampires don't like werewolves?"
David shook his head. "Werewolves are controlled by the moon. The phases of the moon, the strength of gravitational tides, that sort of thing. Unless you learn all that junk and catch them on a good night, preferably when the moon isn't riding high and giving them full strength, you're probably dead meat."
"Puppy chow!" Paul cracked, causing Marko and Dwayne to laugh. David rolled his eyes.
"I want to meet the wolfs!" Laddie piped up.
"No, you don't!" David's blue eyes grew darker as he growled at the boy. Star moved her arm in front of the youngster, glaring at David.
"What else exists? Ghosts? Mermaids? Ghouls? Other supernatural creatures?"
David's lip curled but he didn't respond, stalking back to the wheelchair.
"Supernaturals pretty much stick to their territory. We don't interact with what we don't have it." Dwayne explained with a shrug. "Werewolves are very much dual natured all the time. That's why they tend to stay in a den, grouped together for support. Like real wolves, they keep a hierarchy to help them stay stable."
"Where as vamps get stuck with one bossy dude who's hair looks like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket!" Paul ducked the wrench thrown at his head. David growled when Paul stuck his tongue out at him, taunting.
Star ignored their fighting. Her mind turned over this new revelation; there were werewolves in the world, and maybe other supernatural beings. It was all supposed to be fantasy, found in just fiction, comic books, and movies.
She snorted softly. Vampires weren't supposed to exist, either, but here she was, currently surrounded by four of them.
Warmth bloomed in her chest. The thought of being able to make the choice to be a werewolf instead of a vampire appealed greatly. She would be able to walk in the sun as well as the moon! The fur part she could get over, since how different could it be from having long curly hair? Being tied to heavenly bodies seemed to be a shared trait among the supernaturals she knew existed, though vampires weren't influenced by it. Sunrise and sunset controlled their existence more then the silvery disc in the sky, though they moved about only under the moon.
"Are werewolves born or are they made, like vampires?" She didn't mean to ask the question aloud. It just popped out.
"Oh, no, hell no!" David snarled, the mean look on his face a glimmer of the beast below the surface.
"She just asked a question, David." Dwayne frowned.
"No, she's getting a damn idea, that's what."
Marko shrugged off the pigeons, wandering closer to Star and Laddie. "Both, maybe? I don't think any of us knows for sure."
"Marko!" David roared.
"What? There's no harm in telling her that. Or the fact we don't know jack shit about werewolves, other then it's in our best interests to avoid them."
David threw his hands in the air. "That's it, I wash my hands of the lot of you." He turned, pointing directly at Star. "Anything you do with that knowledge, if you find a way to Half Moon Bay somehow, well, just remember they don't take kindly to vamps. Full or half ones."
Star raised her chin, not afraid to meet the bleached-blond Boy's gaze. "I'm not afraid."
"You should be."
The sound of footsteps distracted them all. "Star!" Michael called as he came down into the main Cave. David and the other Boys simultaneously looked in the same direction at the dark-haired young man. He nodded slowly at them.
"Evening, Boys."
"Michael." David was cordial. He was supposed to be, since Michael was under Max's protection. Instead of revolting and turning against the vampires, Michael had seen reason and accepted Max's plan, once the older man had explained it. Though he had forestalled making the final step, just like Star and Laddie.
"Let's go, Boys." David nodded at Star and Michael as the others gathered and headed out of the Cave, off to cruise the Boardwalk and find a victim or two for the night. The sounds of their motorcycle engines grew distant before the roar of the waves drowned them out entirely.
Michael ruffled Laddie's hair before he kissed Star good evening. She smiled, happy he was here and still coming to see her, still liked her. It had been hard for him, accepting Max's plan and offer of immortality.
"Michael, have you ever been to Half Moon Bay?"
"Yeah, I think we maybe stopped there for gas or something? I'm not sure." the dark-haired boy shrugged. "Why?"
"Do you think Sam could do me a favor and ask his comic book friends what they know about it? And all the information they have on werewolves?" Star's eyes lit up as her plan formed. "I think we may need to make a visit up there."