Hey! So thanks to AchadianRose, Gaara-Kurt, kittykat6625, crimsonsky132, and Plainsong30 for reviewing the last chapter. Just in case you didn't know, I really appreciate it :)

Chapter 2: Envy

Two days later:

"It wasn't my fault! I told her not to go with them!" I fumed angrily as Tara's parents watched me with unveiled disbelief.

They continued to stare.

"You expect us to believe that Tara – our Tara – would just hop onto some stranger's bike and drive away with them?" her father regarded me furiously.

"Well what else would have happened! You think I kidnapped her or something? Why would I lie?"

Her mother looked away, batting her eyelids feverishly. Tears were streaming down her face. It had been two days since Tara had disappeared on Marko's bike, and two days since anyone else had seen her. No one knew where she was – she could have vanished off the face of the entire planet for all the difference it made.

I looked Tara's dad in the eye. "You've got to believe me. If you ever want to see your daughter again, you've got to listen."

"Oh really? How do we know that you aren't leading us into a trap, as you did with our poor daughter?"

"How many times do I have to tell you – I didn't kidnap her!" I said irritably.

"As if I'll believe that!" he scoffed.

"Well, if you're not going to believe me, there's no point in you even being here. So you might as well leave." I said.

I walked to the door and opened it, bowing low in a mocking gesture. Tara's parents stormed past me.

"Well, mum," I said as my own mother walked into the room, "thanks for backing me up."

"It has nothing to do with me," she protested.

"It has everything to do with you! I'm you're daughter, and they're accusing me of kidnapping Tara. You know I'm innocent!"

"Do I?" she asked, cocking one eyebrow.

I gaped. "What, so you think I did it? I'd rather kill myself than kidnap Tara. She'd complain so much I'd have to let her go again straight away."

Mum laughed.

"I'm serious."

"So am I. She'll turn up soon enough – she's just growing up." Said Mum.

"As if Tara's ever going to grow up. Have you seen her lately? She's a stuck up cow."

"Allie!"

"It's only the truth," I shrugged.

Mum sighed, exasperated. "Go out and see Edgar and Alan or something. Do something useful for a change."

"It's almost midnight," I pointed out. "You know I'll only come back at, like, four in the morning. Unless you're not bothered . . . ?"

"Just go out, Allie. And be back by three or you're grounded!"

"Yes, mum." I grumbled.

I shuffled out the door and grabbed my bicycle from the garage, towing it far enough down the road until I reached the hill and just rolled down. The boardwalk's lights lit the sky like a huge colony of stars. The music blared in my ears as I padlocked my bike to the wire fencing, loud and powerful enough to pound through my body like waves in the ocean.

It was about then that a particular raven-haired girl came into view.

"Tara! Tara!" I yelled.

She caught my eye and slinked into the crowd, recognition clear in her eyes.

"Oh, crap," I muttered. "TARA!"

But she was long gone. I ran through the crowds until my chest was heaving and my legs felt like jelly. I sat down on the ground and scowled at the grey concrete floor.

"What are you doing down there, all by yourself?"

I looked up at a smirking Tara.

"What do you want?" I fumed. "I've been looking everywhere for you. So have your mum and dad! They think I've kidnapped you, for crying out loud."

She shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Who needs parents?"

"Oh, right, of course. Because you're so grown up that you can look after yourself now. Or is Marko doing that for you?"

"Someone's jealous."

Hot blood rose in my face. "I don't want to be some hobo's slut! And have you been drinking?" I snarled.

"Hobo?" a voice asked.

And then I noticed the four bikers emerging from the huge body of people in front of me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did I say that?

"Oh . . . uh, hi. Marcus."

"Marko." He said, frowning at me.

"Oh, yeah. Right."

I wouldn't have been surprised if my face exploded with all the blood that was gathering in my cheeks.

"Hey, babe," Tara sauntered over to him, purposely treading on my foot, and snaked her arms round his neck.

Paul wolf-whistled and Marko kicked his shin.

And then something clicked.

I stood up abruptly. "I've got to go," I said.

But as I shoved past them, the peroxide blonde caught my arm. "Why don't you come with us?" he asked silkily.

I winced. "Uh . . . my mum said I've got to be back home now."

They all laughed, and I mentally kicked myself.

"Mummy said so, did she?" Paul mocked, laughing and slapping his thigh as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Git," I muttered, pushing past him and snatching my arm out of Peroxide's hand. "Oh yeah, have fun with Marko tonight, Tara!" I called.

I stalked off as she yelled back, searching for the Frog's comic store. I cast one quick look around before I stepped inside.

"Hello, boys." I nodded as they walked over to me.

"Hey, Allie. No vampire attacks today then?"

"Depends what you mean by 'attack', exactly."

I could tell every cell in their bodies were on full alert now.

"What happened?" asked Edger eagerly.

"I think I know who the vampires are." I declared.

They stared. "What?"

"Tara is with them. I remember seeing one – the little one – the other night. He was the one that grabbed me. The one that almost killed me." I added quietly.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" cried Alan. "Let's slaughter them!"

I frowned. "It's dark – they'll kill us before we can even touch them. And we don't even know where their hideout is."

"You're right." Allowed Edgar. "But we should still try something tonight – they might kill someone before we can do anything about it. They might kill Tara!"

"Good point . . . let's leave it until tomorrow, give them a shot."

"You can't hate her that much."

I raised an eyebrow. "You wanna bet?"

Alan shrugged and stalked off behind the counter.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

He pulled out a sharpened stick. "Giving you some protection for when you walk back home," he said. "You should leave now while they're still here."

"That's stupid."

"No, that's clever. Trust me, Allie."

"Fine," I snatched the stake out of his hand. "I'll see you around. If I'm not attacked by vampires tonight." I laughed.

"You think it won't happen again?"

I shrugged. "Whatever. See you,"

I shoved out the door and buried my hands in my pockets, sheltering them from the sub-zero weather. When had it gotten so cold?

I'd just swung my leg over my bicycle when four figures stalked out the boardwalk, laughing and yelling as they hopped onto their shiny motorcycles. You would've thought bad luck would want a new target every day or so. Turns out it was happy with me.

I stared at the ground, wishing my cropped salt-and-pepper coloured hair was longer so I would have something to hide behind. Who knows, maybe they wouldn't notice me?

"Hey, Marcus. Look who it is!" I heard Paul's voice call out.

Oh, for crying out loud. If these guys really were the vampires, then killing them wouldn't be such a bad idea. I was definitely taking out Peroxide.

They pulled over right next to me. I carried on walking.

"Isn't it a little late to be wandering around by yourself, gorgeous?" said Paul. "You could come with us . . . or does Mummy want you home now?"

Don't hit him. Just keep walking. You can kill him later.

I almost had my anger under control until Marko spoke up. "Paul, leave the girl alone. We'll save her for some other time. You can go home now," he added to me.

"Oh, can I now? Wow! Thank you for your permission!"

He glared at me. "Or we could just take her tonight."

"Aren't you satisfied with Tara? Where is she, by the way? Have you dumped her yet?"

Peroxide smirked. "Relax, Marko. No need to get into fights with little girls."
"Little girls?"

"Come on, Marcus." Paul jeered. "Have some fun. I'm sure what's-her-name won't get too jealous."

The plan in my head formed before I was even conscious of it.

"Want a ride, then?" Paul grinned at me.

"Why not?" I shrugged, wondering whether I could kill two birds with one stone. Revenge on Tara and revenge on the could-be-vampires in one night? Brilliant.

Marko frowned at my sudden change in attitude. "She's not riding with me."

I tried pretending I didn't only care because it was him that said that. "Why not? Afraid I'll push you off the bike?"

Paul laughed. "Yeah, Marcus " was he ever going to get over that? "– are you scared? I bet you are."

Marko gritted his teeth. "Shut up, Paul. Of course I'm not."

"Then why won't you ride with her?"

He scowled at me. "Because she annoys me."

"Because you're scared . . . poor Marcus."

"Get on the bike," Marko growled at me.

I obeyed silently, smirking as Tara stumbled into view, clutching a half-empty beer bottle in her hand.

The look on her face as we pulled away was worth all the bad luck in the world.


"You live in a cave?" I asked with incredulity as Marko led me into the room. "That's so cool!"

I looked around. Three tatty couches were huddled in one corner of the room, along with a wheelchair. A threadbare carpet covered half of the floor.

He actually smiled at me a little. "So there are some things you like."

"What made you think I didn't like anything?" I asked warily.

He shrugged. "You seem as if you're looking for something, and nothing else is good enough. Like something's missing in your life."

"Whoa," I said. "Deeeeeep."

The dark-haired one chuckled, and Paul burst into laughter. "Oh, profound one! Enlighten us with your mystical ways . . ."

"Paul, if you want to keep your pretty face then shut up."

"Either way it'll still be prettier than yours, Marcus."

Marko scowled. "My name's Marko."

"Whatever, Marcus."

Peroxide gave him a hard look.

"Hey, you hungry?" Paul asked me.

I shrugged. "Sure."

Marko stood up, glaring at Paul, and stalked off into an adjoining cavern. He came back carrying some cartons and five pairs of chopsticks.

Paul grabbed a carton and threw it to me. "Here," he said.

I opened it and he tossed me some chopsticks. "Chopsticks?" I asked, sitting on the couch.

"Don't you like Chinese or something?"

"No, it's just . . . never mind."

I tried to pretend I knew how to use them, but ended up with one in each hand, trying to pick up grains of rice in vain.

Marko laughed. "Need some help with that?"

"Uh . . . yeah." I admitted.

He sat down next to me and took my hand in his, showing me how to position my fingers so that the chopsticks rested loosely in my hand. By the time he moved away I was positive that my face was a solid shade of vermillion.

"Better?" he asked as I shovelled rice into my mouth.

"Mm-hm,"

Peroxide started to laugh quietly. "How are those maggots?" he asked.

I blinked. "What?"

"Maggots. You're eating maggots."

I frowned and glanced down at the carton of rice. A thousand tiny insects filled the box, crawling blindly over each other, ashen and pale.

I retched, spitting the disgusting grubs out of my mouth. "You sick bastard!" I croaked as Peroxide laughed even harder.

I gagged again and the maggots tumbled to the ground.

Paul, laughing as he watched me, said: "Don't you like rice?"

"They're maggots, you stupid git –" my mouth fell open as I stared at the rice on the floor. There were no insects in sight. "What are you?" I asked coldly, staring at Peroxide. "Some sort of weird, twisted, voodoo master?"

No, you were right, Allie. He's a vampire. And you, like the idiot you are, walked right into his lair.

"That's enough," a soft voice called.

I jumped so hard I almost fell off the couch. A young woman of about nineteen or twenty walked out of the shadows and regarded me sadly, with sparkling doe-eyes in a warm shade of brown. Chocolate-coloured strands coiled together in a long mane that twisted down her back.

"W-who are you?" I stuttered as she stared at me.

"Star," she replied quietly, her tinkling ankle-bracelets the only sound in the room.

Peroxide glared at her, his eyes hard chips of ice. I was surprised when she didn't even flinch under his harsh gaze.

"It's a bit of fun, Star," he murmured silkily. "You used to have fun, didn't you?"

Star's lip trembled. The atmosphere in the room was deadly quiet.

"Now go back to sleep," he snapped, watching as Star faded away into the shadows.

"You can't do that!" I said, my voice shaking with anger. "She's not some pet you can control. Leave her alone!"

Peroxide leaned back in the wheelchair he was lounging in. "We can do whatever we want," he told me icily.

"Not while I'm around!"

Paul burst out laughing. "Hey, Marko, Dwayne – looks like we've got to behave ourselves from now on, buddies. Look who's here to keep us in line!"

I flushed red. "You disgust me," I snarled.

Marko smirked and looked away, his storm-grey eyes amused. He thought this was funny? What a sick sense of humour!

"You can't treat people this way!" I told Peroxide, glaring at him.

He laughed. "Haven't I already told you that we can do what we want? That friend of yours wasn't so hard to convince."

The thought of Tara made my insides boil. "What about her?" I asked, standing up.

The dark haired one – Dwayne – chuckled. "We've been planning a little something for her."

Something tightened in my chest. "And what exactly is that something?"

Marko looked at me. "You'll see," he said.

"I thought you liked her?"

He gave a derisive snort. "She'll believe anything as long as it's what she wants to think. So will most people, actually."

I tried to stop myself from feeling smug. "That's harsh."

Paul raised his eyebrows at me. "The world's harsh. Haven't you realized that by now?"

"No?" asked Peroxide when I didn't answer. "You'll find out soon enough, anyway. And sit down – you haven't finished your rice." He smirked.

I was about to tell him exactly where he could shove that rice, when I caught something in his eyes that made me freeze.

"I've got to go," I said as his ice-blue irises flashed gold.

"Mummy want you home now?" said Paul mockingly.

I was heading for the door when Peroxide grabbed my arm. "Not so fast. Relax. We'll get you home on time," he said smoothly.

I felt for the stake in my jacket. How many of them could I take down before I was killed? Probably two, I decided. And by the look in their eyes they were pretty darned hungry.

Was there anything that could get me out of here alive? "I'm going to tell Tara you're after her," I said. "She'll call the police."

The gold in his eyes faded.

"Really? Well, this'll be fun." He released my arm. "You go and tell her that, then."

I stood there in shock. Had it really been that easy? Were they really that eager to play with their food that they'd just let me go? I cast one, deferential look at Marko before I bolted. None of them followed me as I ran into the night.

But their laughter rang in my ears the whole way home.