David strode into the room as if he owned the place, well, really, he did, this was his domain after all. Immediately he went to his chair, settling down in it, eyes narrowed as Michael came inside. He looked at Dwayne, "Every year we go into a kind of...rut, I guess you could call it. Tempers are high, we're more in tune with each other, and we have certain instincts that demand our attention."
Michael's collar was pulled up, covering his neck. He sat down on the arm of the couch furthest from David, listening quietly. He'd calmed down a little, enough to at least not bother snapping again. Clearly it wasn't going to end up in his favor.
Paul peered into an empty beer bottle and tossed it into one of the flaming oil barrels, smiling when he heard the satisfying shatter of glass and screaming droplets evaporating in the fire. "Sucks, man. A lot."
"So why'd you get so pissed off when you left earlier?" Michael sighed, referring to the incident that set off the whole chain of events leaving him with a nasty hole in his neck. The skin had closed up now, but every time he reached up to rub at what should be smooth and pristine, he only found the rigid bumps of scar tissue. It wasn't going away.
"Because you left." He stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You left, you can't just do that. I can't know what happened, I can't be everywhere at once, and I can't protect our territory if I'm looking for you."
"...before that, D...avid," he caught himself just in time from voicing his insult. "You were pissed off before that."
"Because there's something...wrong." He didn't want to get into the real reason, didn't want to explain how he wanted to pin Michael down. Seeing those bodies on the beach started it, but coming back to the hotel made it worse. Someone was moving into their territory, and it set them all off much sooner than they should be.
"Corpses on the beach," Marko volunteered cheekily, not really giving much of a damn whether David wanted to employ a bit of tact or not. "Drained...cut up...and we're not the ones who ate them."
"I don't like when someone invades our territory, no one has the right to do that."
Michael eased down onto one of the couch cushions, drawing a leg up as he relaxed a bit more, "what're we gonna do?"
"Find them," Dwayne replied simply.
"Could be just one," Paul suggested, digging through a pile of scrap clothes for a lighter, catching a finger on the edge of a broken bottle and immediately sticking it into his mouth.
"What's with the new look?" Marko hung over the back of the couch, examining Michael's collar with a very smug look plastered on his face.
"...Fuck off," Michael reached back to shove a hand in his face.
David looked slightly smug, "None of your business, Marko, just keep your hands to yourself." He glanced at Dwayne, "Did you tell them?"
Dwayne smirked, tucking a joint into his mouth, "figured actions speak louder than words. Can't get anything through to them if you try talking anyway. Just makes Paul do the opposite." Plus, he clearly wanted a show in the future, the voyeuristic son of a bitch. He wasn't always the responsible one. Especially not at the moment.
David glared at him, he was right though, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.
"Don't be stupid, Marko." Paul said absently, picking at a string on the couch.
"What'd I do?" Marko demanded, snapping at Michael's hand before he yanked it away and glared over at the smaller vampire.
"Nothing, yet, but you're gonna, I know you, you're gonna do something stupid." He mumbled.
"We need to start looking." David narrowed his eyes, "Find those assholes that are in my territory." His fingers twitched, he wanted to do something, needed to do something but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Now that Sam had some time to heal downstairs, and think, and talk himself out of burning a potato sack of dog crap on the Frog brothers lawn every morning for the rest of their lives, he resolved to give them back their comics and be done with them once and for all. Whether his brother had really gone off the deep end and started a part-time hobby of breaking and entering, or he was telling the truth that he'd just bought them off of someone else who could've very likely been the actual thief...Sam preferred to believe the latter.
His brother had been acting like a total dick lately, but he was still Michael. Sam didn't know what was wrong with him, but he erred on the optimistic side mom had decided to take after their unsuccessful attempt to get him to move back home last night, and chose to believe it was a phase. The Frog brothers, however, were clearly not going through a phase at all. They were crazy.
Crazy or not, though, he would hate to think of losing his own favorite rare issues back home...so that's how he found himself hanging out at their front door Saturday afternoon, with the comics carelessly (and maybe passive aggressively) rolled up in one hand. They were going to talk this out, he was going to leave, and he'd never talk to them again. That would be that. If it wasn't, he'd break into their house one of these days and pour some kind of gross chemical in their underwear drawers.
"Ed? Alan? Assholes, I know you're in there!" Sam banged on the door, thoroughly pissed off now all over again because he'd been baking in the sun for the last twenty minutes.
He wasn't greeted by either of his former fairweather vampire hunting friends, however, but a very blurry-eyed woman with a dreamy smile and enough flower power in her clothing to fuel a hippie van for years. Their mother. "Hi, little man...you here to see the boys?" she leaned back against the side of the door, yawning softly as she crossed her fluttering bell-sleeved arms.
Sam frowned nervously. Cussing Ed and Alan out was one thing...he'd been taught a little better not to do the same to a grown woman, "I...these comics...bringing them back…" he fumbled for words.
She took them absently, "They're down at the boardwalk I think." She shrugged, "I dunno where they ran off to."
Sam shook his head, "got stuff to do. Tell…" God, he hated to do this, but he really didn't want to see them at school again…"tell them to call me later. Sam."
She nodded, "Have a good afternoon, Tom."
"S-" He began, but the door was slammed in his face before he could finish, "-am…" He blinked several times, drawing back. Jeeze, their mom was just as bad as them…
His head felt light. Marko still couldn't get used to the new haircut he'd had to get just to even out his poor vanquished braids. That fucking prank had gone way too far. Not to mention, he'd even been nice and offered him a fun romp in the sack. Marko hadn't been lying when he promised he'd get him back...and he'd been plotting it for the last three days, just waiting for the chance to carry it out.
Then, of course, they were all in pretty pissy moods right now, too. Going into their yearly 'season' early, and still having absolutely no fucking clue who the fuckers moving into their territory were, or even where...frankly, Marko needed a bit of stress relief.
The minute they hit the boards tonight, it was pretty clear tourist season had finally begun to die down a bit more. Slimmer pickings, then...which meant…
"I got Dwayne," Paul immediately volunteered. Great. They were pairing off for meals…
Marko bit the thumb of his glove, "I'll take Mikey for you, David."
Michael glanced over at him with a wary frown. David eyed him for a moment but Marko could tell their leader wanted a meal to himself.
"What's happening?" Michael looked around, "what are we doing?" This would be the first time he had to pair off for a meal. Marko held back a snicker. He didn't want to let on about even one bit of his plan, or it would fall apart.
"Pickings are slim, tourist season is ending so we have to share meals, cuts back on the attention we get." David said, still eyeing Marko, "Alright, Michael, go with Marko, I have a couple things I need to get done tonight, we'll meet back at home after we hunt."
The younger vampire nodded slowly, looking over at Marko. He didn't seem too suspicious, which worked just fine for him. Oh...this was going to be epic…
It was a little weird, but a lot of things about being pack were weird. Michael was beginning to get used to going with the flow. Plus, after David tore the fuck out of his neck a few nights ago, he'd be glad for the distance. He didn't really understand what, but something had changed...he couldn't really define it. David was definitely paying more attention to him, and while Michael liked to imagine it was just paranoia that he'd ditch them again without a word, he wasn't entirely sure that had anything to do with it.
What's more, he also felt a little bit more compelled to be around their pack leader, and that really ticked him off. It was always easier to get mad than wallow in confusion. Especially now that he didn't really care about the consequences unless they affected him.
"Who do you want to eat?" Michael asked Marko, nudging his shoulder as they parted ways in the crowd...and he pretended he couldn't still kind of feel David's eyes piercing the back of his skull. He definitely pretended there wasn't a small part of him that maybe enjoyed the attention. Just a little.
Marko looked thoughtful, "Hmm, something young, maybe we can find someone that screams pretty."
He nodded, surveying their options. Most of them were unappealing. Old men. Nagging moms and bratty kids. The kinds of people you'd want to eat just to shut them up. He did notice a hooker or two, but the way they were standing in corners and hanging around certain shops with stares deader than most corpses he'd seen so far, he somehow doubted their blood would be too appetizing, or their screams too fun to listen to either.
"I'm not seeing anyone," Michael shook his head, "could maybe find a chick down at the burger shack, but it seems like a lot of trouble for a half-meal."
Marko shrugged, "Do you see anything you do like?"
He spent a couple of minutes debating before he settled on a girl emerging from a souvenir shop with a shark-shaped coffee mug and a pair of bright orange sunglasses. A little tacky, but she was attractive enough. "That one…" He nodded in her direction. "How do you want to do it?"
"Can either follow her and snag her or you go talk her up and bring her somewhere secluded. It's late enough, not many people are around. Should be easy."
Michael shrugged and headed towards his target. So he was expected to do all the work tonight? Fine. But he certainly wasn't letting Marko get the lion's share for it, either.
"Hey," he said as he drew near her, "you from around here? I heard there's a bonfire party tonight in Santa Carla, and I need directions…"
She smiled at him, "There is? Do you know where, I know the town pretty well."
He grinned, flashing her his pearly whites, "somewhere on the beach. That's all I know." He nodded back to Marko, "me and my friend have some bikes if you wanna go with us, see if we can find it together." He gave her a not-so-subtle once over, far more focused now on his easy meal than David.
She smelled nice. Living people always seemed to have a very pleasant scent. Well, the blood did. He didn't much care for the lingering aromas of where they'd been, what they ate, or the shit they piled on to cover it all up...perfume couldn't hide the blood, though...and God, her blood smelled good. It helped him seem more intent in his interest. More genuine. He'd given up on sex after the third try, too...but he could definitely appreciate the package his meal came in.
"Be glad to give you a lift," he added softly.
They didn't linger long in the bright lights of the boardwalk, or the safety of watching eyes. She only got scared long after she should have, when a mile or so down the stretch of sand and water, she realised there wasn't any bonfire at all.
He was right. The blood was incredible. Better, even, after two days without. Marko didn't even want any, and frankly Michael didn't care. He was glad to have her all to himself, crushing the girl's body to his chest and tearing hungrily at the flesh at her throat until it seemed any remnants of pink in the muscle had long gone.
Leaning back in the sand on his elbows, Michael kept an eye on the older vampire, "you're quiet tonight," he remarked.
"Just thinking." He replied, "Why don't you head home, go relax, I'll take care of the body."
He sat up, brushing grit and sticky clumps of bloody sand from his fingers, "I don't want to deal with David throwing a bitch fit again."
"I'll tell him you came back early. He can't be pissed if you're already there, right?"
Michael frowned, "...yeah…." There was a six-pack waiting back at the hotel...and it'd be a good chance to try exploring the place and check out the parts he hadn't seen yet. "Alright. Sounds good," he nodded, standing up and shaking off his pant legs. "See ya later, then, Marko."
He trailed over to his bike, pausing to glance at Marko over his shoulder. Something was...off...he wasn't really sure what, but he dismissed it as paranoia and headed back to the cave.
David stepped into the hotel, his hunt had gone well, he felt a little calmer, and his mood immediately soured. Marko was there, Paul, Dwayne, but no Michael.
"Where's Michael?" He narrowed his eyes at them.
Marko shrugged, examining his nails, "dunno. He fucked dinner and went off on his own before I could stop him. Probably somewhere in the back if he's even home...thought I smelled him earlier."
David growled softly, "He what?" He couldn't be serious, he had to be playing some sick game.
"Yeah, I know, didn't think he could do it...proved me wrong though. Had her begging for the bite by the time he was done…" Marko went on, lowering his hand and giving David a very sincere frown. He paused, "he almost had a go after too…"
The snarl that curled his lips sent a chill through them all as he tipped his head back and closed his eyes, sniffing for Michael's scent before taking off deeper into the hotel.
Dwayne scowled at Marko once David was gone, "He didn't really do that, did he?"
"Fuck no," Marko laughed, just a little nervously. "That was just for what he did to my hair…"
David stalked through the tunnels, finally following the scent to its source. Without a word he pounced, grabbing Michael and flipping him over, clawed hands tugging at his shirt, snarling low in his throat.
Dwayne on the other hand took a moment to think about Marko's words before he was off like a shot after their leader. Nothing good would come of this.
"The fuck?!" Michael shouted, his hands clawing at the dirt beneath him as he tried to gain purchase beneath the bleach blonde to scramble away, eyes darting towards the can of beer spilled on the ground beside them with a deep sense of irritation and rage immediately replacing his confusion. Half of it was his own, too, and not communicative from David.
David snarled, pressing him down into the ground, "Is this how you fucked her?" His fingers reached for his pants, "Pinned her down and drank her?"
Michael stilled, "what?!" He hadn't even seen Star for over two months, let alone fucked her! "What the hell are you talking about?" He exhaled a harsh breath, very much on the verge of doing something he'd probably regret, but damn it, he wasn't just going to be David's punching bag whenever he got crazy.
Dwayne froze, taking in the sight of the pair before turning and walking away.
"Get off," Michael growled low, remaining motionless, despite his urge to reach down and try to keep his clothing intact. At this rate they'd be shredded soon.
David paused for a moment as Michael froze, taking it as the first step in submitting. Harsh fingers turned gentle, carefully prying his clothes off, careful not to tear them as long as Michael held still. Soft lips trailed over the skin along Michael's shoulders as it was revealed.
"Not gonna do anything you won't like." His tongue flicked out against the bite mark, "Gotta make sure everyone knows you're mine." He reached down, tugging his jeans down around his knees. He nuzzled against his throat, scent marking him like a cat, "I can smell her on you." He growled lowly, "But don't worry, you won't for long."
Michael gave an inward sigh, shifting a bit beneath him. He didn't know why David had suddenly flipped the crazy switch, but fighting him right now would only end up turning it back on. He turned his head to nip at David's chin as he pulled his head away, licking the spot immediately afterwards with a soft growl.
"Smell who?" Clearly it wasn't Star he was talking about. He half-closed his eyes, biting back his irritation against the backdrop of David's less aggressive attentions.
Nails ran over his nipples, raked lightly down his chest as he pressed his half naked body against Michael's almost fully naked one. Gently he rocked against him, letting him feel how hard he was, "That girl you fucked." He growled in irritation, pressing his fingers against the pinned vampire's lips, "Suck."
"I didn't f-" he was cut off by the fingers being shoved in his mouth. Tempted to bite them, Michael huffed against David's hand, sucking on the fingers reluctantly. His stupid body didn't seem to get the message that he wasn't in the mood for this, because he could feel himself getting hard, too. Apparently anywhere he could get it would work.
The blonde retrieved his fingers, his hand moving back so he could press the slick digits against his hole. Pressing and rubbing before rolling them inside. He wasn't listening to Michael's complaints as he opened him up.
"I want you thinking only of me." He growled, pressing his lips to his ear, nipping and tugging at the lobe while his free hand circled around his cock, giving him a firm stroke.
Michael shivered, biting back a groan. He wasn't going to give David the satisfaction. The bastard. "Don't you think that's asking a lo-fuck! Not so hard!" He jerked under him, attempting to pull away.
Teeth clamped in warning on the back of his neck, threatening to bit if he struggled, pressing and twisting his fingers while stroking him. When he felt the other vampire was ready, he retrieved his fingers and gripped his hip instead to hold him steady as he pushed inside.
Lowering his forehead to the ground, Michael let out a harsh gasp, pressing back against him and moaning softly. He didn't even want to know what he looked like right now, shamelessly wanting to urge David on and fight him at the same time.
David rolled his hips forward, "There, good boy." He growled softly, keeping his pace slow and easy, stroking him in time with his thrusts, "Feels good, doesn't it, Michael." It was more a statement then a question.
"You...are an asshole," he grumbled wearily in David's mind, closing his eyes and losing himself in the moment. It felt incredible, but that didn't change the fact he'd preferred to at least have some say about being fucked, and the condescending remarks didn't help. He cried out after a particularly hard thrust, rolling his own hips forward in time and reaching down to try to speed up David's stroking.
David's free hand grabbed his wrist, pushing it down, before speeding up his hands and his hips. His lips and tongue licked and kissed at the bite mark he had left. So much more than just a mark, but a brand. A symbol. No one else would ever have him after tonight. No one. Just the thought was enough to make him want to dig his fangs in again and tear it open but he refrained, as much as he would love to he wanted Michael to beg for the bite. He gave him a flick and twist of his wrist.
"Let go, Michael." He snapped his hips in hard.
Michael yelped, raising his head slightly as their tempo picked up to a speed he could barely reach; every time David moved inside him nearly made the younger vampire see stars, until he was very nearly howling out his release as he pressed himself forward in David's hand. David followed soon after, his hips giving a final push as he shuddered against him, biting the mark with blunt, human teeth as he groaned against his skin.
Relaxing on the ground, Michael shifted, growing slightly lethargic as they settled down together. He rolled onto his back once David pulled out and leaned back against his elbows, watching the older vampire quietly through half-lidded eyes.
David stretched slowly, groaning softly in contentment, sure of his claim on Michael now, "Mmmm." He glanced at Michael, watching him to see what he would do.
"..You owe me a beer," Michael sighed, running a hand through his hair and scratching the back of his head while he yawned.
David chuckled softly, "Sure, want a six pack?" He seemed much more amiable now, relaxed.
"...I think I deserve a twelve pack," he drawled, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"
"You were missing when I got back, Marko said you fucked your dinner and ran off." He said, closing his eyes slowly.
Michael snorted, "I'm going to kick that lying little imp's ass…like I've even gotten to second base without losing it...you seriously believed that?" It was over and done with now. Honestly, he was a little relieved David had a reason and hadn't just gone off the deep end for the sake of a good screw.
He shrugged, "Had to at the time, kind of wound up if you haven't noticed."
Michael cracked open an eye and looked at him thoughtfully, "gonna give me a warning next time, then?"
"A warning that I'm going to pound you into the ground? Yes." He smirked at him.
"You…" He was honestly at a loss for words...so instead, Michael just laid back and turned away from him to grab his jeans, intent on getting some space between them for the sake of his mental well being. An ego that big could be contagious...possibly terminal.
David reached out and pulled him close, "Who said you could go anywhere?"
Michael rolled his eyes and let his jeans fall to the ground, "what, are you gonna put me on a leash next?" He paused, turning his head so he could look over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of David's smug face, "...don't answer that. And if you do, I'll strangle you with it." He was only half-joking.
"I think you'd look good in black leather. Wrapped around your throat…" He licked his lips. Michael growled back at him, nipping at David's bottom lip and licking at the blood that welled up there.
"Ass," he retorted, settling back against David and closing his eyes. Rock and torn carpet weren't really the best things to sleep on, but it could be worse. It could've been Paul who pinned him, though not likely at all, and the thought was enough make him want to gag a little. If David was smug about it, there was no telling how Paul would have acted…
"Fuck, I'm glad I can't have nightmares…" He mumbled aloud, wrinkling his nose.
"What're you thinking about?" He questioned, nuzzling him and closing his eyes, holding him close.
"You don't wanna know," he yawned, laying an arm over the one wrapped around his chest and falling asleep.
David grumbled softly before nuzzling into his shoulder and falling asleep with him.