Author's notes: What kind of parents let their teenage daughter spend the night with her boyfriend? I guess the same kind that would raise a psycho like Roxie. On a side-note, I really do need to start just...waiting to post chapters until I'm absolutely sure I won't do any more writing for the day.
Grandpa Emerson climbed down from his stepping stool, dropping the last broken light bulb into a small trashcan beside the kitchen table. He wasn't happy. The kitchen was a mess. The screaming teenagers had given him a headache. He'd have to buy more replacement bulbs in the morning, because these were the last of them. What's more, Sam's little girlfriend had gotten black candle wax all over the counters.
"I meant what I said when I told you to clean this place up before you go to bed," he grunted, closing the stepping ladder and walking over to tuck it behind the refrigerator. He glanced back towards the Frog boys with a very firm frown on his face, "and tomorrow, you're gonna wax and clean my lazyboy. You left scuff marks and mud all over it."
As the old man lumbered out of the room, grumbling, he paused at the doorway. "And Sam, if your girly over there is staying the night, tell her the house rules."
Roxanne looked up from her book and directly at Sam with a wide smile on her face. "...We'll sleep in the living room, I guess. You can take the bed, Roxie." Sam ran a hand through his hair, scratching at his head. "You'll probably wanna call your parents, though..."
"Already told 'em," Roxanne chirped, looking back down at her book. "Okay, so, we're gonna need to get some like...bricks and chalk tomorrow..." She pulled out a piece of paper tucked into the back of the book and dug around in her box for a pen to take down notes. Sam frowned. They were going to have a serious talk about their relationship after this. And boundaries. And what she was and was not allowed to summon within the confines of his grandpa's house.
"So..." Edgar cleared his throat as he scratched at a chunk of wax on the kitchen counter, trying to chisel up enough to remove the candle. "...After this, anyone wanna play Monopoly?"
"Sounds good to me," Alan agreed.
"Oh! I wanna be the top hat!" Roxanne cheered, clapping her hands together. Her ability to focus on any one thing at a time was clearly very limited.
Sam shrugged, deciding for once to just stop thinking and let it happen. He was tired of stressing out, just because his friends (and girlfriend) were all nutjobs. At least they kept things interesting. And it wasn't like whatever kind of 'door' or whatever that they'd just opened tonight wasn't going to be open tomorrow to deal with anyway. "Okay, that's fine...but I get the steamboat. Nobody else touches my steamboat."
And hey, at least the monkey skull wasn't screaming anymore. Though he did look at it once or twice to make sure it wasn't about to start up again. One thing was for sure before they all went to bed. That thing was going in a trash bag, in the trash can, and outside far away from the house. Possibly buried, depending how long it took to clean up and whether their Monopoly game ran into overtime.
Nanook padded out of the room, watching something none of the humans in the room seemed to notice. Trailing blank fingers of shadow, sinking into the hallway walls.
"Now, now, there's no reason to be so territorial. There's plenty of room in the house for two of us. What's more, I'd say I'm a lot more experienced than you are, wouldn't you agree?" Max's voice echoed, light and airy to the human ear, like the whisper of a running fan. But Nanook heard him well enough, and the dog kept his eyes trained on both shadows all the while as they slipped along the walls together.
"They're. Mine." Star insisted stubbornly, keeping her distance from him. Even dead, he was quite powerful. She could sense it. It was like everything he lingered around became darker and weaker, just by being in his very presence.
"My dear, think about everything you've been through this past year. Did you really know Michael long enough to love him so desperately that you'd take your own life?" He inquired. "What's more, why is it that after your death...you feel nothing but hatred towards him and everyone he loves? Can you answer me that?"
"He trapped me here!" She insisted, growing more and more agitated by the second. A picture frame she drifted by shifted and fell from the wall with a loud crash.
"Oh, what now?!" Sam Exclaimed from the kitchen.
If Max could have smiled, he would have. And somehow, Star knew this. "Not at all, my dear. Michael didn't trap you. I did. You all belong to me. I was the reason you took your own life. It only took a little bit of a nudge, really. You were the easiest. And now that you're with me, you can help deal with the rest of them."
Star drew further away from him, shocked and disgusted at the same time. "What makes you think I'll help you?" She demanded, much of the force behind her rage seeming to deflate.
"Because, my dear, once I have my body back...I can help you get yours as well. What's more, I'm sure you'd like to teach the boys a lesson. Frankly, I'm disappointed they decided to let me 'rot'. I look forward to our family reunion."
Sam dashed into the hallway, having taken off the 'ceremonial robe' Roxie had forced on him, and knelt down by the shattered picture frame. He gulped and looked up, scanning his surroundings. Maybe they'd get rid of the monkey skull first...and burn that sage like Roxie told him...
"Nanook, did you knock this down?" Looked at his dog, who whined back at him, taking a deep breath and huffing. "No? You sure?" He asked hopefully, scratching behind the husky's ear.
"I was just trying to play nice, why did you have to turn this into a fight?" David demanded, stepping closer to Michael and putting a hand on the back of his neck so he could pull him forward until their foreheads were touching. Michael shoved him off and backed off. There was no way David would bare his fangs or pull a stunt out in the middle of the boardwalk. As long as he was surrounded by people, he was fairly safe. He could worry about consequences later, because right now he was livid.
"Why did you have to show off? I was having a good time!" Michael mentally snapped back. Anyone watching would have thought they were just having a very intense and somewhat aggressive staring contest.
David crossed his arms, "you're pack, Michael. If you have a good time, we all have a good time."
"Whoa man, don't drag us into this. You're just paranoid your wifey is gonna run out on you," Paul interrupted, and both Michael and David looked over at him angrily.
"Stop calling me that!" Michael growled.
"Relax, Paulie's just mad he has to wait until his birthday before he gets to have a little lamb," Marko jumped in.
"A lamb isn't a sheep! It wouldn't even have a full coat!" Paul snapped.
"...You would know," Marko said out loud, grinning and crossing his arms. He was happily the only smiling member of their group now.
"You know what? When we get home...it's going to be different tonight. So watch your back. David." Michael shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and took a few steps away, before spinning around to go find Dwayne and his mother. He didn't want to end their little chat tonight on a weird note.
Paul and Marko stood up, watching Michael depart with curious expressions.
"What do you think he has planned?" Paul wondered aloud, nodding in Michael's direction.
"I dunno. But...my money's on Mikey. Just to keep things fresh. Can't always go for the sure thing," Marko replied.
David just growled and clenched his fists. He didn't like being threatened. He also didn't like being bet against, but he'd take care of Marko later.
"What about a draw? What are odds on a draw?" Paul suggested. Scratch that, he was going to take care of Michael, then Marko, then Paul.
Lucy walked quietly beside Dwayne, clutching her purse to her side as she stopped beside a trashcan and threw out her half-eaten hot dog. The little display between her son and his 'friend'...it had thoroughly destroyed her appetite. Perhaps she shouldn't have come out here tonight. Gazing up at the tall vampire beside her, who seemed to be waiting for her to say something, she suddenly realized she was standing all alone with someone who enjoyed killing people, and didn't have any real reason not to do the same to her.
"I won't hurt you. None of us will." Dwayne stated calmly, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder...if all of them were as intuitive as him.
"How old are you?" She asked.
"Older than you," he replied, simply.
"And...and are all of them?"
"Yes."
"...And you enjoy hanging around my teenage son?" She refrained from letting any sort of demand or firmness leak into her tone, but it was a little concerning. Granted, she knew they were vampires, and she knew vampires could live a very long time. She'd learned as much from Sam and the few questions her father had answered since their incident with Max.
Dwayne chuckled and shrugged, "some day he'll be older than you are now, and he'll still look the same."
Lucy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "and is Michael in an abusive relationship?"
Dwayne paused for...a very long time. He didn't know how to answer that question without letting on too much. He suspected she might not want to know the exact details of his 'relationship', or whatever David and Michael wanted to call it, and certainly not who it was with. "They have their moments. But..." he leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I think they both like it that way."
Lucy gulped, shaking her head, "I'm not sure I like that very much."
Dwayne straightened up and shrugged, "I don't expect you to." He saw no reason to sugar-coat it. He was already being fairly nice, given the fact that he really didn't give a damn about her. Again, he just didn't want any headaches back at the cave if Michael threw a fit about how they treated his mommy.
"Mom?" Michael's voice. He was walking towards them, and Dwayne wasn't at all surprised to see that he looked like he was in a thoroughly bad mood.
"Michael?" Lucy stepped away from Dwayne and eagerly walked towards her son, "Is everything okay? What just happened? Why were you fighting?" She understandably had a lot of questions after that peculiar display.
"It's fine, I was just...snapping at him and making stuff up about his...sister...because I told him I wanted to talk to you alone, and he came to bug us anyway," Michael shrugged.
"Oh...okay..." Lucy's face smoothed out and she took a deep breath. She felt a little bit better. That was why the other boy had been so defensive! They were talking about his sister.
"Sweetheart, you need to learn to control your temper," she reached up to smooth back Michael's hair once more. "Your father acts the same way, you know. That's why we were never able to work things out after the affair. And...yes...you aren't my baby boy anymore, you're not even human...but...well..." she stumbled for the words, pulling her hand away from his hair so she could rub at her temples. "Just try not to get so angry at the little things so much, okay?"
Michael looked away with a half-smile and licked his lips, almost exasperated at the advice. She had no idea what he was going through. But...she was trying. And maybe, in a way, she had a point. "Okay. I'll try."
"Sister?" Dwayne's eyes met Michael's, and he smirked at him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything. Your hole is deep enough," he chuckled.
