Author's notes:

Ran - Man. 25 years of killing people made Mike pretty harsh, huh?

Kage - Hey, you get used to it! For them I'm sure they think murder is fun by this point and Michael...well, he's one of them now!


3 days later…

The funeral had been small. Grandpa and Lucy were buried on the same day in plots close to each other near Sam's grandmother. He hadn't been to the house yet. Wasn't ready to go back to sort out their affairs. Too many memories. And when all was said and done, Diana had given him an ultimatum before she hustled their daughter into the car. Give up on hunting, let his past go, and move on...or don't bother coming home after he dealt with the estate sale.

It was early evening when he finally left the cemetery, and he was more than a little bitter that the brother he knew still 'lived' in the same city couldn't even be there. Would he have even showed up, Sam wondered, if he could? They hadn't spoken since he was in college. Even then, their last conversation...hadn't been a pleasant one.

Sam sighed, slamming his car door behind him and stomping towards the house. He wished he could just walk away. Leave it. Pretend this place never existed. But he couldn't. So he forced himself to cross the porch and yank the front door open...something was very wrong…

The room was trashed. Broken furniture and a few splatters of blood decorated the room. He stepped further inside, seeing what was written in red across the far wall, 'this is only the beginning'.

He hesitantly made his way to the kitchen, another message written there, 'we should have finished what we started a long time ago'. What did it mean? Did whoever wrote these messages have something to do with their deaths? He froze, what if, what if the Lost Boys did it? What if Michael...What if his brother had finally lost it? They didn't part on the best terms, Michael didn't want to be cured, he wanted to be a shit sucking vampire, so what if he killed mom...

Sam squeezed the car keys he held in his hand so tight, the imprint nearly cut into his palm, before he ran back to the front door and kicked it open. The sun was still up. There was still time to send them a message of his own. He cursed as he yanked open his car door and glared at a bag propped up in his passenger seat. There were a couple of stakes there...fuck, he knew he was going to die tonight if he did this. But he'd be damned if he didn't take a few of those shit-suckers out with him!


David was having an awesome dream when a voice he hoped he would never hear again rang through the hotel, "Alright you sons of bitches! You wanna take me out?! Come and get it!" Sam.

A soft grumble escaped his lips, "The hell is wrong with the little twerp?" He grumbled, pressing his nose against Michael's shoulder, taking in a deep breath, "He go nuts?"

"Hm?" Michael yawned, "stop yelling in my ear…" he mumbled tiredly, still too deep in sleep to register exactly what was going on.

David grumbled again, "This isn't over." He mumbled, falling back asleep.

Sam was yelling again.

"Shuddap ya li'l shit!" Paul yelled, grumbling and pulling a teddy bear in against his chest.

Marko cracked open an eye and squinted at Paul, "where the hell'd you get that? You didn't go to sleep with it…"

That seemed to wake him up a little bit and he quickly threw the bear, "Dunno, not mine, go sleep." He yawned again before squirming, it looked like he wanted that bear anyway.

There was a loud crashing sound, followed by several smaller ones...and metal clanging, before everything in the lobby grew silent.

Michael opened his eyes, frowning, "what just happened?" He smacked his lips, leaning back against David and yawning again.

"I think little Sammy was just here, was telling us to come get him. Think he got into the Frog's stash, bet they have one." Dwayne grumbled.

"That'll be fun. Bout time we took care of him…" Marko remarked, glancing down at the teddy bear on the ground. Come to think of it...hadn't he seen that thing tucked away in the fountain before?

David opened one eye, "Paul? Where's your bear?" He smirked darkly at him, still half asleep.

"Shuddap, not mine, fuck you, Davey." He gave him the finger, pouting, wishing he could go back to sleep.

"Gotta have something to fuck, doesn't he? Hasn't been able to pin Marko in months," Dwayne snorted.

Marko grinned before yawning, "Ain't gonna change either." He paused, "Do we really get to go see little Sammy tonight?"

David nodded, "Moment the sun sets, gonna go pay him a visit."


Sam was nervous. He had literally walked into their lair and called them out. What was he thinking?! Was he stupid? He held a stake in his hand, his fingers clenching around the smooth wood. He needed to be ready, need to take them out for what they did to his mom and grandpa. He took a deep breath, he could do this, had to do this, for mom. He looked up at a clock on the wall and then towards the door. He was propped up in a kitchen chair, ready for anyone the second they stepped through that door...ready to kill.

18 years ago, he'd had his last conversation with Mike, over the phone. Tried to plead with him that they could find a cure, if he'd just leave the boys and go home. But he hadn't listened. He'd hung up on Sam before he could even finish...that was probably the last scrap of his brother, dying with their final phone call. And now Michael was really gone. For some reason or another, he'd just decided now was the right time to finish off the remainders of his old family. Maybe for a game. Maybe because he was bored. Sam wasn't sure, but he had to end this...tonight.

"I'm sorry, Mike. I'm sorry I couldn't save you," Sam said sadly, glancing up at a photograph of his brother on the mantle. Smiling in the sunlight.

He turned away, too caught up in his thoughts to notice the figure in the shadows, to see the hand that lashed out and wrapped around his throat before lifting him up and slamming him into the couch. He flailed, lashing out and trying to get his assailant to release him. But the stake wasn't much good unless he could get it near his attacker's chest. A sense of panic washed over Sam when he met the golden, vicious eyes of his own brother, snarling in his face as he reached over to yank the stake from Sam's hand and sent it skittering across the floor.

"What're you gonna do with that, huh?" Michael hissed, leaning closer and grinning madly. Even more horrifying than his monstrous grimace, he hadn't aged even a day since the last time Sam had seen him. Of course, he'd known Mike wouldn't change...but still...seeing and knowing were two entirely different things.

"I'm gonna drive it into your heart for what you did!" He meant it to sound threatening but it came out as a squeak thanks to the hand around his throat.

Michael snickered...he actually snickered. How could he snicker at this?! "Oh yeah? And you know what I'm gonna do to you?"

He swallowed hard, "What?"

"This!" Michael let go of Sam's throat and yanked his shirt up, then proceeded to drum the tune to wipe out on his belly until it turned red. "Say uncle!"

Sam screeched, gasping for breath, not expecting this reaction at all. David and the other boys stepped out of the shadows, laughing at him. He felt his face flush red with embarrassment. He was a grown man! Not a kid anymore.

"The great hunter, brought low by wipe out." David smirked, "He's not gonna stop until you do it."

"Uncle!" He gasped for breath, his tummy ached, "Uncle! Fuck, Mike, stop!"

Michael gave him one more good slap to illustrate his point before he jerked Sam's shirt back down and ruffled his hair, "the hell is wrong with you, Sam? What was that shit all about at the hotel, huh?"

He took a deep breath, holding back his tears, "You killed mom and grandpa." He glared at him, "You did it, I know you did. Why? Why would you? How could you?" His hands were clenched into fists as he looked up at the assembled vampires, holding his very sore tummy.

The older Emerson stared at his brother incredulously, at a loss for words. "I think my brother is a brain dead idiot, guys. Maybe we should put him out of his misery…"

"Finally!" Paul gave a loud shout of joy, when Michael turned around and punched him in the shoulder as he climbed off of his brother.

Michael dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, flipping it open and playing the voicemail, glaring at Sam all the while. Then he tossed the phone down on the couch and crossed his arms, "don't you think I would have fucking killed all of you years ago if I'd planned to? Why would we have waited this long, huh? Are you really that stupid?!"

Sam remained silent, frozen in place as he stared at the phone, refusing to respond or even give any indicator he'd heard a word his brother had said. If Michael and the boys hadn't killed them, who did?

"As much as I would love to take credit for this, it's messy, just so...cliche." David rolled his eyes before smelling the air, "It was vampires though, by the way, just not us."

"And we haven't had a good fight in over 50 years, so...probably not our fault, kid," Dwayne shrugged, glancing around. "Unless Max came back...but I seriously doubt it. Fucker's dust is still buried behind the trash cans out back."

"The fight with Max wasn't even that good, weak ass pansy." David paused, "So, we have some vamps encroaching on our territory, taking out Michael's property, just doesn't work for me."

Paul nodded in agreement, "if anyone tears your little ass up, it's Mi-"

Michael punched him in the shoulder again, "don't you ever fucking shut up, Paul?"

David growled at Paul in warning, "Shut up or I'll rip your tongue out and you'll have to spend a week regrowing it."

Marko snickered, biting the thumb of his glove, "so if it's not our fault...doubt it was the old man. Wrinkled bastard didn't even like having us over for tea...don't think it was your mommy's, either…"

Narrowing his eyes, Michael flopped down into a chair directly across from the couch, crossing his hands over his lap, "so...what have you been doing, Sam? Let's do some catch-up, while we figure this out, huh?"

"Weekend hunting, Diana's pissed at me, planned a funeral." Thinking about mom and grandpa made him a little choked up, "I'm teaching English…"

That got Dwayne's attention, "English? Never thought you would wind up teaching English."

He shrugged, "I focused a lot on mythology." He glanced at Michael.

David glared at him, knowing exactly why he focused in mythology, "And how did that work out for you?"

Honestly, it hadn't, but he wasn't about to tell the bleach blonde that, "Worked out fine." He said, glaring in return.

Michael frowned slightly, "so...it's your fault they're dead, then. Pissed a couple of suckers off, and they came around to collect," he was so blunt about it, Sam could hardly believe it. This definitely wasn't the Michael he remembered. But, then again, he'd been killing people for a couple of decades at this point...and they hadn't exactly kept in touch. But...shit...if he was right…

Sam sat up on the couch and put his face in his hands with a sob, "it's those bastards we didn't finish off last time. It's the ones who trashed my house five years ago...the ones Ed warned me about…"

Marko circled around the couch and leaned over, kicking his feet in the air and snickering, "bet you thought it would never come around and bite you in the ass, huh?" He was relishing this. Trying to prod Sam, upset him even more...and it was working all too well.

"Chill out, Marko, stop being a little shit," Michael scowled at him. He was mad at his little brother right now, but that didn't mean he wanted anyone else giving him shit. That was his place, not theirs. "You got old, Sammy," he remarked, eyeing Sam up and down. Jeeze...and he'd look even older now, too. If he'd never met David. Probably be going bald, just like dad was the last time he saw him.

Michael glanced over at David, "you know who these guys are? They smell weird. Funky..." It was hard to describe, and definitely not worth mentioning to Sam. He wouldn't understand, but the smell...it was like the fuckers who'd come by to trash the place bathed in cologne and perfumes to actively cover up the smell that marked them for what they really were. It was like death dipped in flowers and vanilla. Something actively even worse than just the smell of death alone.

"Reminds me of Max. Remember all that Aqua Velva shit he bathed in? Thought it made him smell more human, didn't he?" Dwayne snorted to himself. Trying to cover up your scent was basically just another way of pretending to be human. It didn't make any sense to any of them. But then again, for a vampire at least, none of the Lost Boys were insane. They were exactly what their natures made them: predators.

David looked thoughtful, "It's odd they would send a message though if they were playing human. Then again, Max is the only one I ever really met that was trying to play at being human." He paused, "Of course if they're nuts...all bets are off." If they were dealing with insane human playing vampires it would make them unpredictable, "As for who they are, no idea."

Sam looked between them, a little freaked out by the silent conversation going on, "So...you guys psychic or something? You're doing an awful lot of staring at each other…"

"Yes," Dwayne replied stonily.

"You got all kindsa shit bouncing around in that little head of yours…" Paul grinned. "Don't think about your wife's tits. Just try not to…"

He scowled at the vampire, "You're not gonna make me think about her.""

"Wow!" Marko whistled, "bet you like to get down and dirty with those at night…"

Sam sputtered, "I wasn't thinking about her naked, you bastard!" He shouted, hands clenched into fists.

David snickered, "She does have a nice rack on her, see, that's the thing, Sammy boy, kind of hard not to think of something when someone talks about it."

"Kinda weird, first time I meet my sister-in-law, she's banging my little bro…" Michael shook his head, wrinkling his nose in disgust. It wasn't necessarily Sam's mate that turned him off, it was just the other side of the equation. "I think I'm done with that game now, thanks."

David shrugged, "That would do it." He paused, "So, we have us some human acting, foul smelling, vampires to find."

Sam lowered his head, drawing his knees up to his chest, and for all the world looking like he was 14 again. In that moment, Michael actually recognized the twerp he used to be practically connected at the hip with. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Sam mumbled. "I was just…" He looked back up at Michael, "I was just trying to make sure nobody else ever had to go through what we did. And yeah, maybe I thought if we managed to dust enough shit-suckers, we'd find a cure for you, too. That's all…and once in awhile, a couple of them got away. They only ever came back once, and I thought we shook them off when we moved...then Ed shows up a few nights ago, freaking out, and he tells me there's a few who're out to get us...I just didn't think..."

"You're still fucking going on about that?!" Michael snapped at him, "you can't cure me, Sam! Even if you could, you think I'd want to live knowing I've murdered hundreds of people?! What the hell is wrong with you?"

David chuckled softly, "Yeah, Sam, we kind of have no conscience, think of the things we do and what it would do to the poor, weak, human, mind." He paused, "Speaking of which, I'm getting hungry, what about you, boys?"

"I could eat," Marko leered at Sam, licking his lips.

"Bleh, too stringy," Paul shook his head.

Michael didn't bother telling them to chill out. Right now, he was mad enough to practically wring his brother's neck without their help. Yeah...feeding was a good idea.

Dwayne surveyed the room, crossing behind the couch. He heard a crunch as his foot stepped on something delicate...kneeling down, he picked up a framed photo of Sam and Michael, "I think they might already know about us." He stated, holding up the photo.

"Well, if they don't know Mikey's one of us, guess they'll find out soon...huh?" Paul grinned.

"The biggest question is, can they figure out where we live." David crossed his arms over his chest, "We need to find them before they find us."

Michael glanced over at his brother, keeping his mouth shut. One word and he knew he'd just snap right now, so he decided to just leave the room and wait for the others to follow. This was the one time in over twenty years he thought keeping ties to his human family was more trouble than it was worth. David followed him, sitting on the porch and pulling him down, looking out into the night as he thought about what exactly they were going to do. Michael was almost reluctant to sit with him.

"People have seen us together plenty of times. They've actually seen me with mom on the boardwalk. I don't think these guys even know who we are," Michael grumbled, crossing his arms.

"If they ask around they'll figure it out and if they're playing human they're gonna ask people. I am curious what the new generation says about us, what kind of stories are floatin' around out there." He reached up and slid his fingers through his hair, "I wanna eat your brother." He said wistfully.

Michael scowled, "ask me again when I've calmed down. I'm sure I'll tell you no." His eyes slid over to examine David's haircut, "I liked the mullet more. Something to hold on to."

He raised an eyebrow, "Yeah? Don't think this works? Could always grow it back out, it'll take awhile though."

"Change sucks. How do you guys get used to it so easy?"

"We don't. Takes time, gotta learn to adapt. Think of how many changes I've had to go through and the boys, this is your first one. You get used to it as long as things don't change too drastically. This whole hipster bullshit, I'll never get used to that." He paused, "I wore a fedora once…"

"Once?"

"Well, like a few years, was the in thing." He shrugged, "Looked good with the outfit."

Michael shrugged, "I get that we should change. Really. I do. But...leather's timeless. I don't see why I should change my jacket. I like my jacket. And my hair…" He paused. "...I could go back to wearing my lucky jeans, though, when I find them...that's a change. Where did you fucking hide them, David?" Ten years on, the bastard still hadn't told him.

He grinned, "Leather's perfect, it'll never go out of style." He would never tell him where they were, those jeans were falling apart when he finally got them away from Michael, all that skin was for David and only David. He didn't want to run the risk of them finally totally wearing out while they were out riding or harassing the locals.

Marko poked his head outside, "Hey, Mikey...Paul's going through your mom's underwear. You wanna eat first, or beat his ass?"

Michael jumped up and dashed back inside with a growl.

Grinning evilly, Marko hopped out onto the porch and flopped down beside David, "found something," he held out a small card. For a new club opening up downtown. "I think they left this for Sammy to find."

David snagged it, looking it over, "Isn't it Ironic." He read the front of the card, "What's this? Some kind of weird restaurant?"

"Look on the back…" Marko nodded. In small, cursive script...it read 'an ironic discotech and ironic coffee shop. Ironic.'

"I don't think they know what ironic is."

"MIKE, I'VE GOT TO SELL THIS STUFF LATER, DON'T DO THAT TO THE FURNITURE!" Sam yelled from inside, which was followed by an immediate screech from Paul's end.

David sighed and got up, "Michael! Let's go!" He shouted, they had a club to visit, "Bring the runt if you want."