Author's Note: Here is the new chapter! Thanks to TishaLiz and L.A ROBSON for their reviews and I hope you guys enjoy :) please leave a review and let me know what you think!
L.A ROBSON: Thanks so much for your review! Glad you liked the last chapter :) I promise updates will be more frequent and I hope you enjoy them!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost Boys.
Marko
"Max wants us to visit." I heard David's voice in my head as I walked through the boardwalk, I rolled my eyes and turned to head towards the video store, my hopes of talking the pretty brunette a few feet ahead of me down a fair alley to drain her blood truly lost. Max's invitation wasn't a request, it was mandatory.
"Did he say why?" Paul asked from somewhere else, sounding like Max's was the last place he wanted to be tonight. He wasn't the only one that would rather eat glass than go.
"Nope. Which I don't like, he wants to explain when we get over there."
What was the point of having telepathy if he always wanted to talk in person? He could have told us whatever the hell it was right from the comfort of his little office, I didn't get why we had to drag our asses over there. But then again, there was a lot about Max I didn't get.
"I'm here, I'll wait by the back." Dwayne said, it was routine for us to sneak in like a bunch of criminals, God forbid the customers saw the owner being pals with the local biker gang.
I eventually reached the back of the store to see Dwayne and David waiting there, David smoking a cigarette. We waited a few seconds before Paul jogged into view, an unapologetic grin on his face.
"Sorry, had to take care of some stuff." He said with a wink before opening the door and heading inside, David crushed the remainder of his cigarette under his shoe before following him inside.
We turned down the hallway which was so narrow our shoulders almost touched the walls, it was dimly lit with only the crack of light under Max's door ahead to guide us. Paul pushed the door open and greeted Max rather loudly, which didn't amuse Max at all and he shushed him before ushering the rest of us inside.
Paul collapsed into one of the small chairs in front of the desk, kicking his legs up onto the desk in front of him, earning a disapproving look from Max but no comment. Paul turning up to something like this was a miracle in itself, Max knew not to take it for granted.
"Glad you could make it. I hope you're all doing well." Max greeted at the door as if we were neighbours that dropped by for a dinner party. Did he always have to be so weird? I knew the whole "friendly" act worked around humans, but he didn't exactly have to keep up the act while we were around. It wasnt like we didn't know how crazy he really was.
"No tea?" Paul asked with a gesture to the empty table, only a few pages and a book in front of him. Max shook his head and crossed around the desk to sit at the chair behind it, every time he did that I felt like I was back in high school being dragged into the principal's office for a lecture.
Dwayne leaned against a filing cabinet with David and me against the opposite wall blocking the door from opening, just in case anyone came back here. One time that girl that works at the desk nearly found us in here, Max almost pitched a fit.
Max took off his glasses and began to clean them, I always had to hold back a snort when he did that, it wasn't like he needed them. They were all part of his façade, as were the suits and terrible ties. I had to hand it to him though, it definitely worked, he definitely would have been the last person on earth I would expect to be the leader of a group of vampires.
"I wanted to talk to you boys about an idea I had, something I believe is long overdue in our little family. I'm going to need some help with it, though."
Family, I rolled my eyes at the word, that wasn't exactly how I would describe us. I was surprised Max even wanted our help with whatever it was, usually he hates giving us any kind of responsibility. We all waited with less than enthusiastic expressions to find out what it was.
He looked at each of us before smiling, "I would like you to help me welcome some new members." Oh great, here we go.
"How many?" David asked suspiciously, he didn't like the sound of this and neither did I.
"Three." Max answered, thinking it over for a second, "That woman you saw at the video store the other night, Lucy-"
"The hippie woman?" David asked in disbelief, a chuckle escaping him. I vaguely remembered her, the long skirt like Star's only not as elaborate and the polite smile. Max did seem a little dreamy-eyed over her when we walked in. But I didn't see how that woman would ever fit in with us.
"Yes, Lucy." Max corrected, with a glare towards David that told him not to interrupt again, "She seems like a good person, kind, generous, motherly. She's everything I've been looking for."
Paul snorted, shaking his head, "Man, I don't see that woman joining us Max, no matter how charming you think you can be with her." He laughed, I felt my lips tug up in a smirk at the thought of Max trying to pitch the idea to her. He really was delusional.
"Precisely my point." Max agreed, which took Paul by surprise, "I know I can't convince her all by myself to join, even I can foresee her reluctance. That's why I want you boys to initiate her sons, Michael and Sam, first. I believe they might convince her to join."
The whole room was silent for a few seconds as everyone thought the idea over, David's jaw was clenched tight and I knew he wasn't happy about things, but there was no conversation in my head, which made sense because anything we said, Max could hear.
"And why should we do it?"
The question came from Dwayne, and judging by David's sharp nod he was just about to ask the same thing. Max's eyebrows rose at Dwayne's apparent stubbornness to do what he asked, his glasses slid down his nose a little with the action and he pushed them back up before continuing.
"Because this past while I have supported whatever decisions you have made in terms of initiating new members, reckless and stupid as they may have been." His gaze was on David when he said this, it as obvious he was talking about Laddie and Star, he was obviously still pissed at David. Sure, it may have been a lapse in his judgement when he brought Star into the fold, and Laddie an even more unwise decision, both were refusing to turn and Max got more annoyed with each passing day, both at them and at David. Although right now I had a hard time seeing how he could be angry about Star and Laddie when some lady and her sons joining us seemed like an even worse idea.
"Fine." David spit, not needing any more convincing, "How old are they? What do they look like?"
Max fished in his pocket for something and produced a photo a few seconds later, it looked torn at one side as if someone had ripped a small part off. I wondered how the hell he had managed to get a picture of them when he continued.
"She was showing me this the other day at her interview when I asked about her family, I took it from her purse when she wasn't looking. Michael is the older son, Sam is the younger one."
Paul tutted, "Never thought you'd resort to theft, Max." He said in a disapproving tone that matched Max's perfectly and I couldn't hold back a chuckle, Max passed the photo to Paul who stared at it for a few seconds before passing it to Dwayne, who frowned at it before tossing it my way. David threw a quick glance over my shoulder at it before making a small noise of disapproval, the photo was like something you'd see in a family sitcom, all smiles and happiness, like the goddamn Brady Bunch.
One brother I recognised from the boardwalk having seen him a few nights before, dark curly brown hair, dark eyes. I moved onto the other brother in the picture, a few years younger than the first with short blonde hair, light blue eyes. They looked like a regular family, from what I could tell the dad had been torn out of the picture, ouch.
"I'll return it the next time she's at work." Max said casually, "I wanted you to get a good look at them both so you know who they are. I want you to start bringing them in as soon as possible."
I passed the photo to Paul who slid it across the table to Max, "The older brother shouldn't be a problem, he seemed to take an interest in Star the other night, she can help bring him in. She does have her uses." David said pointedly, it was obvious he wouldn't here of a bad word said about the little gypsy girl. Even from Max.
"That's good." Max said brightly, although I doubted his opinion of her had changed, "And what about the younger brother?"
"Well I think the older brother would be the best to go for first, the younger one won't be a challenge once we get the older one in."
"He shouldn't be a challenge to welcome in at the same time either." Max argued, David exhaled sharply in frustration, "He's a teenage boy like many of you were, and he's new in town, perhaps he'd appreciate a friend." With his last words his eyes landed on me and I raised an eyebrow, I did not like that look.
"Me?"
"Well you are the youngest of the group, and the closest to the boys age in teenage years, perhaps you would be the best to approach him. The others don't exactly look the friendliest." He said, it wasn't like he was wrong, but I wasn't about to be his errand boy.
"So what? I'm supposed to be his buddy and then what? Say 'hey kid, how's about joining our local vampire gang, we have cookies'?"
The others laughed at that, but Max didn't look impressed, screw him anyway. Once the laughter died down David sighed and looked my way.
"Marko will take care of the younger brother. I'll talk to Star about the older one."
Max held up a finger, "I don't want her knowing about this-"
"I won't tell her." David cut off Max's upcoming lecture with a roll of his eyes, "I'll make something up, she won't suspect anything."
"Fine." Max reluctantly agreed after a few seconds, "I will do my best with Lucy over the next few days to build a relationship and I trust you will do your best with Sam and Michael."
Max took the following few seconds of silence as confirmation that we all understood each other.
"Why do you want this whole family in?"
Max sighed at David's question as if he was waiting on someone asking, "Our family is incomplete, and despite you boys being great company for me these past few years, I am lonely without a mate. I want Lucy to join the family and be a mate to me, and a mother to you boys."
Like I said before, he was crazy. Like we really needed a mother, we didn't really need a father either but Max wasn't one to argue with. There were times such as these when I really wished we could.
"One big, happy family, huh?" David asked in both amusement and disgust, he out of all of us was probably most used to Max being weird like this, it seemed to not even surprise him anymore.
"Precisely." Max smiled, completely ignoring David's sarcasm, "Plus having her own biological sons in the family is just the icing on the cake, I couldn't plan things better if I tried."
Not planning this at all would have been better, but I guess nothing's perfect, right?
David leant off the door and grabbed the handle, getting ready to leave , it was obvious the discussion had come to an end. We had our orders, and Max wouldn't give an inch, we could spend the rest of the night trying to make him see sense or just get out there and do it. The sound of scraping chairs made Thorn start barking with a vengeance, the sound of him banging against the door almost drowning out Max's goodbyes.
"Feel free to contact me if there are any problems, I trust there won't be." I happened to be the unlucky sucker walking out last and received a fatherly clap on the back from Max which I promptly shook off as I headed out the door, following the others down the hallway. David continued past the back door and right for the door that led into the store, opening it and walking out despite Max's protests. I could tell he didn't care, he wasn't happy with the present situation, none of us were. When I reached the doorway I saw the few people around the shelves staring with open mouths at us, David's actions had the desired effect, we strolled out leaving Max to explain our presence in his office.
"Night!" Paul called over his shoulder, sniggering as the dark haired girl behind the counter looked at Max as if she was going to ask him what we were doing here as soon as we left. I would have loved to hear his excuse.
I followed the others in the direction of our bikes with a sigh, at least I didn't have to worry about anything tonight.
"You got homework." Paul sniggered from beside me, I shoved his shoulder.
"Shut up." I growled, "Why the hell do I have to go after the little shit?"
"Because you're the cutest." He teased, laughing harder at my predicament.
David slowed until we were beside each other, "Maybe you should go try to find the kid now, take a walk in case hes hanging around."
"Fine." I snapped, so much for not having to worry about it for the rest of the night. I could understand David's logic, the sooner we got it done the sooner Max would get off our case. Still, I didn't exactly live for this kind of stuff. David was the one with the charisma that could make you want to join, even if you didn't understand it yourself. I wasn't the one for the job, I cursed myself for looking the youngest.
The others headed away towards the direction of our bikes, they'd probably go look for Star and Laddie and head back to the caves, leaving me here looking for the younger brother. I decided to treat myself to feeding a few times before I headed back, I deserved it for putting up with Max's shit and being sent on this little adventure.
This wouldn't end well at all, everyone could see that, everyone except Max. That was the worst part, we had to do what he said.
So I took a deep breath and started searching the boardwalk for my new friend. Sam.
