*Please note this is the third and final part in the 'Beauty Has Her Way' trilogy. This is my second attempt at finishing my trilogy. Please read the other two stories in order before starting this one (or you will be a little confused!). This one's for me. Enjoy*
That same night...
Michael slammed the door in anger. Talking to Alan after what he'd witnessed in the Cave had reignited his rage. Alan Frog had once stood with them against the Boys. Now he was a pathetic shell who had betrayed them all. If the Head Vampire hadn't been killed, Sam and Edgar would still be going through the Change.
He took a deep breath and started down the corridor. The hospital was buzzing like a hive, doctors and nurses rushing to perform their next duties, while patients and visitors seemed left in their wake, dazed. Michael stood to the side to let a gurney wheel by, and then opened the door to Sam's room.
"Mikey," greeted Sam, his voice croaky.
"Hey," Edgar added, peering above the pages of the comic he was reading. "By the way, I've read this one.
Michael rolled his eyes and perched on the side of Sam's bed. "Sorry Ed. The hospital shop isn't as well stocked as your Comic store used to be."
Edgar grunted in response, his nose back in the comic.
"How are you doing Sammy?" Michael asked, turning a concerned look on his pale younger brother.
"Peachy. The pain killers are helping, so is the blood transfusion. Goddamn vampires," Sam replied, trying to sit up further.
Michael grabbed an extra pillow from the end of the bed and helped prop Sam up.
"Thanks," Sam said, settling back more comfortably. He tentatively touched the bandage at his neck and winced.
Before Michael could sit back down, Sam grabbed his hand, his eyes full of gratitude. "I mean, not just for the pillow Bro. You saved us at the Cave."
Michael nodded, giving Sam hand a squeeze. "Any time Sammy. Just don't go doing that ever again. Or I'll kill you."
He let go of Sam's hand and ruffled the boy's already mussed hair.
"Hey! Not the hair," Sam complained.
Michael chuckled. "You must be feeling better."
"Dude, you got us out of that Cave, which was a real solid. But what I want to know is: who the hell killed the Head Vampire? And then we need to celebrate David's death... for the second time," Edgar asked, tossing the comic lightly to Sam's bed.
"Well, it was Star. It must've been," Sam offered, his forehead lined with a frown as he tried to think of a solution.
The boys both stared at Michael, waiting for an answer.
He sighed and nodded, "I've got some news," Michael started, licking his lips in thought. "First off, Alan is down the hall. He's cured too." He braced himself for their reaction.
The room went silent. The Emersons both stared at Edgar, waiting for a sign. The Frog's face remained blank; a picture of calm.
"What's the 'second off' then?" Edgar replied, ignoring them both.
"Ok, well..." Michael dropped the bomb. "David wasn't the Head Vampire. He's still... undead."
"Excuse me?!... Of course he was the Head! ... Are you tripping?!" came the combined incredulous replies from the younger boys.
"Mikey, look at us! Did you miss the fact that we are no longer destined for fangs and bad breath??" Sam added. "Get a mirror, seriously. I checked already, but we totally have normal reflections... Well, Edgar's was never normal."
"I hate to tell you this Sam, but you've always had bad breath," Edgar retorted. "Michael, cut to the chase. What are you trying to say??" he asked, his voice all business now.
Sam stuck his tongue out at Edgar, and then subtly tried to smell his own breath by cupping his hand over his nose and mouth. He cringed at the result.
"Calm down, both of you. Alan told me that Marie was the Head Vampire, not David. I believe him. He's not lying. He's too upset to be making this up..."
Ed and Sam's faces froze in disbelief, then Michael was hit with a barrage of questions.
Michael held up his hands at the verbal assault. "Ok, Ok, listen to me. I don't know all the details, but I think Star does. What I do know is: Alan stayed in the Cave with Marie after we left. He got burnt from helping her. She survived though... until David turned up at the cave and staked her."
"That makes no sense," Sam uttered, shaking his head. "Marie did the resurrection spell for David. He had to be the Head Vampire..."
"After you guys were attacked, Star went her own way. Then she turns back up at the house ten minutes before you guys are cured. She must've told David what happened... then he killed Marie," Michael hypothesised.
"OR... or, Alan is lying to protect Marie, and she's still undead, while David's dust," Sam countered.
"So you're saying that David is dead because Star did it? Come on! Do you really think she could kill him even after everything he has done?!" Michael argued, jealousy and anger swirling inside him.
"Ok, what if you are right - why would David kill Marie for us?!" Sam declared, throwing his hands in the air.
"Think about it Sammy! David wouldn't do anything for nothing, and he certainly wouldn't do it for us! Why isn't Star here at your bedside now?!" His voice was raised, his eyes flashing with emotion. "He did it for her. She went to him and made a deal."
The room was silent again while this new information was digested.
"I'm starting to think you're right about this... Man, I feel sick. It's just the chance David needed to get her. David's not dead," Sam sighed bitterly. He addressed his brother, "Before this all happened, Ed's plan was to have Star seduce David and find out their resting place."
Edgar withered under Michael's horrified look, but quickly regained confidence and defended himself. "It was a good plan! But it was based on the notes in Marie's journal. Her journal said that David was the Head Vampire! How were we meant to know that it was all lies?! She was Star's friend! Who could've guessed she was actually an insane-witch-vampire?!"
He sniffed, looking away. "And Alan was my brother..." he added softly.
Sam sighed. "Sorry Eddie. I didn't mean to blame you. And Alan still is your brother..."
"How am I supposed to forgive him for what he did?" Edgar asked, his voice pained, his face turned away from them. "I hate him."
Michael bit his tongue so as to not make things worse - he hated Alan right now too. What the boy had done was despicable. Instead, he concentrated on what Edgar had mentioned about Marie.
"I only just got back in town. What's this about a journal? What happened?"
Edgar turned back, and the pair launched into a tag team rendition of the events surrounding David and his Boys' return to Santa Carla.
Michael pinched the bridge of his nose, doing his best to interpret the disjointed facts being volleyed back and forth between the injured teens.
"Stop! One at a time," Michael interrupted, his head swimming.
Ed took a deep breath, his eyes a little glassy with unshed tears. He pushed his emotions for Alan away, and started:
"In a nutshell: Star got a letter from Marie inviting her back to Santa Carla to look after her store, Gypsy Rose. Meanwhile, pretty much a year after we killed them, we get a visit from a girl, Marie, who warned us the vamps are back. Alan and I saw the suck monkeys ourselves one night on the Boardwalk... When we bumped into Star, we warned her too. Then she found this old box of stuff hidden away at Gypsy Rose. It was full of weird magic shit... and Marie's journal. Marie wrote that David came to her and bought supplies for a resurrection spell. David paid Star a visit... but Alan ended up getting bitten and Turned. Alan gets brainwashed or something because he decides he likes being a blood sucker... By this time Star and I figured that David killed Marie, cast the spell himself, and sent Star the letter to lure her back to town. I called in Sam to help save Alan..."
He paused, took a quick sip from the glass of water at his bedside. "During a routine patrol, the Comic Store burned down, possibly with Dwayne inside. Then I get grabbed by Alan and taken back to the Cave. Star and Sam arrive to save me... Alan's there with Marie, who is walking and talking; living dead. She told us she was the one that cast the spell for David in exchange for immortality, but David told her she had to leave town, and she decided she didn't want to. Her whole evil plan was about getting us to kill the Boys... again. See, she couldn't take on four vamps herself and she couldn't reverse the spell because it would reverse her new vampire-self too. Warning us of the Boys return, leaving the journal – it was all part of her plan. She took Alan under her evil wing and they decided to vote me on their team – Sam was to be Alan's first kill. We all fought, us two got bitten and forced to drink their..." Edgar paused, shuddering, "... blood."
Sam took over, keen to get in on the action. "That's when you turned up Mikey, saving the day. Setting Marie on fire kept both her and Alan busy while we escaped. The rest is history."
Michael listened to the condensed version of the past few weeks, asking questions here and there. He was stunned to hear the Comic Store had caught on fire – unfortunately neither boy could be sure that Dwayne had actually been killed in the blaze.
When he had absorbed the timeline, he asked, "Somewhere in there Star must've learnt that Marie was the real Head Vampire." His eyes darted back and forth as he worked it out. "She didn't know Marie was even alive until the Cave, right?"
Edgar and Sam exchanged a look. "Yeah, she was shocked that her friend was still standing, and a vampire at that," Sam answered.
"You all found out at the same time that Marie was alive... I took you both home, while Star said she had to go somewhere first," Michael remembered.
"She confronted David," Edgar supposed, sitting forward in his bed, enjoying unravelling the mystery.
Michael nodded. "She finds out her friend is a vampire by David's hand, and she knows you guys can be cured if the Head Vampire is killed –"
"–Then David admits the truth: that the only way to cure us is to kill Marie, not him," Sam butted in, excited.
"He says he'll do it for her..." Michael added unhappily.
"... but only if she'll do something for him," Sam said, finishing the thought.
Michael looked at the floor glumly. "Then she came to Grandpa's to make sure David followed through with his end of the deal. She told me it was going to be ok... She was crying and she said it would all work out, and when it did I had to take you guys back to Phoenix... where it would be safe... She knew you guys would be cured."
He sniffed, replaying the conversation. "I'm so stupid! I should've known what was going on. Star was so upset. She wouldn't talk about coming back with me to Phoenix; said she had 'other plans'... Before we could talk anymore, you guys were cured. I didn't even twig at first, but you did Edgar – you asked her about the Head Vampire..."
Ed nodded. "Yeah, and she didn't say much, just that it was done."
Michael jumped to his feet, collecting his jacket and keys from the visitor chair. "I have to find her. I have to go now."
"How? We don't know where she is!" Sam exclaimed.
"Where was she staying? I'll start there," Michael said, heading for the door.
Both Sam and Edgar let out small cries of fright when the phone on the bedside table between them jangled into life.
"Hang on Mikey..." Sam said before picking up the receiver. "Hello?"
