David held out the bottle to me, and the scent of the blood wafted under my nose. There was a trace of wine there, I could smell the alcohol; but underneath, overpowering it, was the scent of copper. Blood. I sat up on my knees, taking the bottle from him. They all watched with baited breath and curious eyes as I looked over the bottle. "Isn't this the bottle you had Michael drink from?" I asked. David nodded.
"The one Star said was filled with blood?" I said, grinning. David's smirk reappeared, his eyes cold. "She was teasing him," he said. "Like you were, telling him his rice was maggots and that the noodles were worms?" I said, teasing him just a bit. He nodded.
I moved to straddle him, taking a swig from the bottle and holding it in my mouth. I kissed him, passing the blood to him, feeling him shudder as the blood moved across his tongue. I grinned at him and repeated the process with each of the boys, laughing when Paul chased after my mouth. They began chanting my name softly and I smiled and tipped the bottle back, taking a long drink from the bottle, causing them to applaud. I passed the bottle back to David, laying back on the bed, exhaustion finally hitting me after so busy a night with my new lovers. I pulled him and Dwayne down next to me, Marko wrapping himself around my legs and using my thighs as a pillow. Paul contented himself by laying as he had earlier in the evening, with his face placed on my palm, kissing it gently once in a while as we all began to doze.
I knew that dawn wasn't far off, with the blood already hitting my system, I could feel it's pull to sleep. "Good rest, my loves," I said quietly. I felt Dwayne and David hold me closer. "Rest well, Princess," David replied, his thumb gently caressing my cheek as sleep took me into it's dark embrace.
When I awoke, I knew that I was changed. My eyesight was different, even in the darkness, I could see. Probably not as well as the boys could, as I was only a halfling-vampire. But I could clearly see everything in the room, including the boys who were not awake yet. Their breathing was still deep and steady, they still slept. I laid there, comfortably warm in their embrace as I listened, picking up the sounds of Laddie and Star in the front of the cave. I wondered briefly how Lucy was taking my disappearance. I hoped she wasn't too angry with me. I would have to come up with some kind of story to explain it. Perhaps tell her I had stayed with Star and had gotten ill after eating something. My brain went to work on coming up with a story and I didn't notice immediately that David's eyes were now open and upon me.
"Good evening, Princess," he rasped out and my eyes were instantly on him and I smiled.
"Hello there, handsome," I replied, making him smirk. He slid his hand behind my neck, rubbing it as he pulled me forward to his lips. With a softly murmured, "yes,", his tongue was toying with mine. "Oh good, you're awake!" a very loud Paul shouted, making me wince and David glare.
"And there goes the peace and quiet of a sleeping Paul," I said, teasing him. "Hey, you know you love me," he said. I laughed. "Never disputed that fact, just said that you're loud," I replied. He laughed and yanked me from David's grasp, kissing me soundly as I smacked him lightly on the chest. "Silly man," I said.
"So, what are we doing tonight, my loves?" I asked.
"We are taking you somewhere special," David said, a gleam in his eye. I wondered if this would be the night they showed me their true selves. I smiled.
"Sounds fantastic, but we need to stop by and let my Mom know I'm still alive. I was thinking we could tell her that I'd been hanging out with Star and got sick," I said. David nodded, "Probably a better idea than telling her you were here, engaging in sexual congress with us," he said, smirking. Dwayne chuckled. "Sexual congress?" Dwayne asked raising an eyebrow. David smirked again and nodded, "Sounds better than, 'hey ma, I had a five-some with my four lovers,' doesn't it?"
I choked and blushed, making them laugh. "Is there some place I can clean up first?" I asked. I felt incredibly sweaty and sticky after the night before. "Of course, Princess, forgive us for not thinking of your needs," Dwayne said sweetly. He stood, a sheet wrapped around his waist and lifted me up in another sheet, carrying me to the roman-style bathroom. "The water will be warm from the cistern," he said, filling it. I reached in and found that he was right. While definitely not a hot shower or soak, the water was quite warm. "Here's a washcloth and some soap," he said, handing the to me. "I'll bring you some towels," he said and kissed me. I dropped the sheet and tossed it at him, smiling when he held it to his nose and smelled it with a smile, making me roll my eyes.
I climbed into the enormous tub, sighing as I relaxed in the sun-warmed water. There was a slight chill in the air, making me sink further into the water. I was certainly glad of the expedited healing of a half-vampire, otherwise I would be feeling a whole lot worse and much more sore after all of the encounters with the boys last night. I was still a bit sore, but not as bad as it could be, I was sure. I took the washcloth and soap, washing myself quickly and thoroughly, then using the soap to wash my hair as well. By the time Dwayne returned, the water had begun to cool and I was ready to put on some clothes and enjoy a new evening with the boys. I stood and he stepped forward with the towel, wrapping it around me before he carefully lifted me and carried me back to what I now thought of as "Our" room, mine and my mates'.
I dried off and pulled on my somewhat clean jeans. Dwayne passed me a clean black tee shirt, I'm assuming it's one of David's. I "eeped!" softly when Dwayne pulled me down to sit in front of him and he began to very gently brush my hair. "Did you know," he asked, "that in my culture, the only person allowed to brush a woman's hair was her mother, her sisters, or her husband?" He kissed the back of my neck, making me shiver as his agile fingers began to braid my hair down my spine. I smiled and leaned back, kissing him. "I think I like that tradition," I said. He kissed me deeper and I placed my hands on his chest. "My warrior," I whispered. He growled softly and kissed me again, picking me up and carrying me into the front room.
"There you are, wondered if you were going to be joining us," David teased. I smiled and sat in his lap, his arms automatically wrapping themselves around my body. "We need to stop off at Max's Video," I reminded him. "Star?" I called out, and she peeped from around the curtains of her bed. "Yes?" she asked quietly.
"May I tell my mother that I spent the night with you and became ill and had to stay because of it?" I asked. I was certain that she'd agree if David ordered her to, but I wanted to be friends with her, as she was going to be Michael's mate. She tilted her head to the side, as if surprised I would even ask when I could just have it ordered of her. I smiled pleasantly at her and she nodded, an odd look on her face that spoke of her surprise. As we stood, David gave a direct order to Star, one that she wouldn't be able to break, "Stay here and mind Laddie, we'll bring back food for you later. Understood?" he asked. She looked sullen but nodded.
I frowned and whispered, "Sorry," to her as I walked by, and she nodded. I gave her and Laddie quick hugs before I was hustled from the cave and up the stairs. Marko handed me my bag and I put it across my chest, climbing onto the back of David's bike. I wrapped my arms around him, smiling when I felt his thumb place gentle circular motions on the back of my wrist before he started the bike. Within a heartbeat, we were off, heading towards the boardwalk.
We arrived in front of Max's Video and I hurried inside. It only took me a moment of looking around to find Lucy, she was looking a bit distracted as she helped a client. When she'd finished, I walked over to her. "Hi Mom," I said quietly. The change in her was immediate. "OH! Maddie, where have you been? I've been so worried!" she cried. I felt horrible when I saw unshed tears shining in her eyes.
I wrapped my arms around her, amazed at how far down I could shove the scent of her blood to where there was no chance I'd bite her. I could feel the want for it, but it was almost like when I was facing something in my previous life that I loved the taste of but was allergic to. I knew I couldn't have it, so it wasn't worth making myself ill over. So I'd push the want away. I did the same thing now and hugged her as though my sanity depended upon it.
"I'm so sorry, Mom. I was spending time with my friend Star and some of her friends and we went out to eat. I started feeling really sick and we went back to her house and I've been there since trying to feel better. Her parents don't have a phone or they'd have called you," I said, telling her the story we'd come up with while at the cave. "Her friends gave me a ride into town so I could let you know what was going on," I said, nodding towards where the boys were sitting on their bikes in front of the store. She smiled and waved at them, and I had to hold back a giggle when Paul and Marko waved back. Dwayne didn't move a muscle and David just gave her a nod.
"Is it ok if I hang out with them for a while? I think Michael is going to be joining us later," I asked.
"Are you sure you're feeling up to that?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am. 110% better," I replied. She sighed and nodded. "Just take care of yourself. And be careful of all that junk food," she said. Before I could reply, I was attacked by a big white blob knocking me to the floor.
"Oof!" I said as it laid over me and I was assaulted with dog breath and laps of a long wet canine tongue. "Well hello to you too, Thorn," I said giggling.
"Oh for the love of...Thorn!" I heard Max groan. I laughed harder. "Hi Max!" I said without looking up, just rubbing and scratching Thor, putting him into paroxysms of glee. His leg was twitching as if he was going to rocket to the moon and he flopped onto his stomach like he'd never had a belly rub in his life. "Missed you too, Thorn," I said and kissed the top of his head. I looked up and laughed, all four of my boys were in the doorway, looking a bit worried but their faces relaxed when they hear me laughing. I stood, pushing Thorn off my lap; he looked so dejected I felt sorry for him, but patted him on the head.
I walked over to talk to Max and my Mom. "How are you, Max?" I asked, looking for any signs that he could tell that I was starting to change. "Better now that I see your face in here. Your mother was quite worried about you, young lady," he said, just slightly disapproving.
"Yes, sir. I know. I came to explain why I'd been gone. I'm afraid I ate something that disagreed with me while spending time with my friend Star," I said and I saw his eyebrow raise a bit. "Well then, I hope you're feeling better, my dear," he said and I smiled.
"I'm sure I'll feel better in no time," I replied. "By the way, you should take Mom out again, I know she had a great time the other night, other than the whole debacle with Sam." He looked thoughtfully at Mom and back at me. "Do you really think she'd go for that?" he whispered.
"Definitely. Cook something amazing, have it at your place where you don't have teenagers running around. Remind her that she's more than just a mom. She really likes you, Max. Besides, you're a nice guy, if I had to choose a new stepdad, I think you're a great choice," I replied, truthfully. He looked surprised and gave a heartfelt smile. "Wow, thank you, Madison. That really means a lot to me. I know how much you love your family," he said.
I grinned at him. "Well, I already consider the boys my family and Star and Laddie family, you're family too, now," I said. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, surprising him and the boys, (and causing David to growl softly) before I waved goodbye to him, Mom and of course, Thorn and walked out of the store, the boys at my heels.
"What was that?" David asked, sounding slightly ill.
"I was welcoming him to the family," I said, laughing quietly. "I have a feeling Max is going to be my new stepdad, eventually."
"And you're okay with that?" he asked.
"Yup," I replied, climbing onto the bike behind him and kissing the back of his neck. He shuddered and we took off down the boardwalk. We stood around at one of the balconies overlooking the ocean and the greater boardwalk area. I knew they were scoping for food, I was waiting for Michael.
Sure enough, after a short wait, Michael was there, grabbing ahold of Marko and shoving him out of the way. I grabbed my Marko quickly with a softly chastising, "Michael!" He ignored me and grabbed David. "Where is she?" he asked. David laughed quietly. "Where is Star, David?" he asked again.
"Michael if you ever want to see Star again, you'd better come with us now," he said.
I felt both exhilaration and a little fear run through me. This is it, I thought. They're going to show their true natures. I wasn't afraid of them, but I wasn't exactly ready for the gore fest that was to come. I knew they were putting on a show for Michael, but it was a rather harsh wake-up call for him, as well. We all walked to the bikes and as if knowing what was coming would upset me, Dwayne took my hand and led me to his bike, placing me in front of him this time. I leaned back into him as we rode, and felt his soft lips upon the back of my neck.
We pulled to a stop on a small bluff beside a tree, overlooking a small group of Surf Nazis partying around a bonfire. They were singing along to Aerosmith's Walk This Way as the boys climbed the tree. I climbed up with them, with help from Paul and Marko. I felt the boys' energy suddenly punch up, they became antsy, unable to stop moving. I leaned against the center of the tree as David called to Michael. "You don't want to miss this!" David said. Michael climbed up into the tree on the other side of me.
I heard Dwayne whisper into my ear, "Don't be afraid, Princess," he said. I smiled up at him. "I'm not afraid, love," I said. I thought I heard him whisper something along the lines of, "I hope you'll keep thinking that," but I wasn't quite sure.
The boys hid their faces in the shadows and I heard David's voice. "Initiation's over, Michael! Time to join the club!" he said and pushed his face back into the light from the fires. As I'd thought, they were revealing their vampire selves. They were all laughing, Marko giving a silly, "Hi Michael!" before giggling. Their eyes were more orange-gold than the normal gold that I'd caught on occasion, and their canines had elongated. And then they attacked; it was almost like watching a documentary film for me. I felt no desire to join them, the scent of the blood was strong and I felt a gurgle in my stomach, as if it was a wonderful smelling loaf of fresh bread, but I wasn't to the point where I absolutely HAD to have it.
I looked over and saw Michael. His eyes were golden, he was fighting the pull, but he'd been a half vampire for days longer than I had been and had been fighting it for far longer. He watched all the blood and cried out, throwing himself backwards out of the tree and into the sand. "Michael?" I called to him, climbing down to him. He looked up at me and threw himself into my arms. His eyes were back to normal, but I could hear his heart beating quickly. I held him tightly and listened to his panicked breathing. "Breathe, Michael, breathe!" I whispered into his ear.
We watched as the boys came up over the sand dune. Their focus was on Michael for the minute, and it was more to him than me that David spoke. "So. Now you know what we are. Now you know what you are. You'll never grow old, Michael. And you'll never die. But you must feed," he finished before he began to laugh, the others joining him. Before I could say anything, Michael was up and on his bike, tearing away towards home.
As one, the boys turned back towards me, looking a little apprehensive all of a sudden. I climbed to my feet and walked over to them. They seemed to be waiting for me to run screaming as well, and were surprised when I came closer, instead. I took a handkerchief from my bag and wet it with a bottle of water, wringing it out and dabbing at David's mouth and chin. "Such messy eaters," I said softly. He blinked in surprise as I turned to Paul, then Marko and finally to Dwayne, cleaning them up a bit. David grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward. He stared at me, looking slightly incredulous. "Aren't you going to run away screaming?" he asked.
"Did you want me to?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No! No, no, no!" he said, drawing me closer and holding me to him. "We were afraid that you would fear us, hate us, for what we are," he said quietly. "So we didn't tell you. And then we forced the decision on you without your knowledge," he said, looking unhappy but determined.
"You did, did you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. They all looked at me, a bit guiltily, but again, determined.
"Madison, Princess, we are vampires. And the moment we saw you, the moment we heard your laugh inside Max's, we knew you were our mate. Our mate. Not just mine, nor Dwayne's, nor Paul's, nor Marko's. Ours. That's extremely rare. And we knew we had to have you. The wine you drank last night? It wasn't wine. It was blood, our blood. You are in the in-between. Not fully human, but not yet a full vampire. You won't be a full vampire until you feed for the first time," David explained. Of course, I remembered all this from watching the movie from my previous life. Except for the mate part, that was entirely new. Suspected, hoped for, but new.
"I see," I said. They stepped back as if waiting for me to explode at them or run screaming, either one. I calmly walked over and got onto David's bike. They looked up in surprise. "Are we going to go fine me a meal or not? You didn't exactly leave me anyone to choose from here," I said.
Their faces lit up in surprise and joy and they ran towards me, yanking me off the bike and passing me around with kisses and fervent promises of love and devotion. A girl could get used to this, I thought. "Oh damn," I said, catching them all off guard.
"What's wrong, Princess?" David asked, concern in his voice.
"Those Frog boys. They've got it into their head that you all are vampires. And that Max is your leader. Michael might turn to them to try and turn back human. To turn him, Star and Laddie back human," I said. Dwayne and David looked at each other worriedly.
"We need to go see Max," I said softly. David ground his teeth for a moment but nodded. He grasped my hand, gently helping me onto the back of his bike. I kissed just behind his ear as I climbed on, smiling against his skin when he shuddered. "Watch it, Princess, or I will drive you wild later before I fuck you," he said in warning, making me blush and shiver.
We took off into the hills, heading towards Max's house. As we pulled in, the lights in the house turned on, and Max was at the door, looking annoyed at first when he saw the boys, and then surprised when he saw me there with them. "Madison? Are you alright, dear?" he called out.
"Can we come in, Max? We need to talk to you," I said. He opened the gate and I was immediately inundated by Thorn licking at my fingertips and dancing around me. I smiled at him, "Hello Thorn. Good boy. Go inside, I'm coming," I said and he took off running inside the house. I grinned and Max just shook his head.
"I'm never going to get used to that, you know," he said. I patted his shoulder gently as he gestured us inside. I took a seat on the center of the sofa, with David and Dwayne on either side of me and Marko and Paul at my feet. Max looked surprised at the way they arranged themselves around me.
"So, Madison, you said we needed to talk. Please, feel free to do so," he said, sitting in a wingback chair across from me.
"I'm afraid it has more to do with Michael than it does with me, Max," I said, trying to decide how to explain how badly Michael wanted free and just how far he was willing to go to get himself and Star free of "the vampire curse," as he saw it.
"The boys showed Michael their true selves tonight and told him what he is, what he's becoming. He didn't take it terribly well, I'm afraid. I know he wants out of becoming a vampire, he wants to get Star out as well. I'm just afraid of how far he'll go to get it. My younger brother Sam has become friends with those two boys, the Frog brothers, that came to dinner the other night. I'm afraid that if we don't do something soon, that he may turn to them for help. And as much as they seem like bumbling children, they could do some damage, even kill someone by accident. Now, no one wants to see that happen, least of all any of us. So I was wondering if there was any way to release Star and Michael without having to kill the vampire's leader?" I asked.
"What makes you think I would know who the vampire's leader is?" Max asked, looking surprised. He glared at David. "You told her, didn't you?"
I giggled. "No, David didn't tell me, Max. I recognized what you were when you asked Michael to invite you into our home," I said, stretching the truth just a bit and glad that the boys weren't able to read my thoughts. Max stared at me blankly and the boys were obviously shocked.
"Wait, you knew what we were?" David asked.
I smiled and nodded. "Of course I knew, love."
"And you still stayed?" Dwayne was amazed. "Is that why you weren't mad about the wine?"
"I had four men who loved me, why would I leave?" I asked honestly. "Drinking blood for you is no different than me enjoying a nice steak or venison roast. Besides, I would have asked for the wine soon if you hadn't offered it."
Max smiled widely. "So she is your mate. I had hoped so. As I hope that Lucy is mine. And thank you for that advice earlier, Madison, your mother agreed to a date here at the house."
"I think you should tell her what you are, Max. Just go slowly, don't scare her too badly. My mom's a lot stronger than she looks. And as long as she knows you're not going to hurt her or the boys, I think she'd agree to be with you," I told him. He looked thoughtful and nodded.
I smiled. "Now then, back to the original question. Is there any way to free them without you having to die for it to happen?"
