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Lucy awoke from another Jenny Young nightmare with sharp stabbing pains in her stomach. She clenched her fists and clutched her stomach as a gnawing hunger coursed through her body, crying out for the sustenance she would not let it have. Being careful not to disturb Max, despite the pain she was in, Lucy dragged herself out of bed and made her way downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water. The sun had just risen and the house was quiet, something Lucy appreciated whilst she waited for the pain to subside. She heard the front door creak open and saw Michael creep in. She let him close the front door before speaking. "Michael, are you okay? Where have you been?"
"I'm tired, I'm going to bed" replied Michael as he avoided looking at his mother.
Lucy could smell the subtle aroma of alcohol. "Have you been drinking?" she asked, alarmed that her eldest son was acting wildly out of character. "Michael, if there's something wrong, you can talk to me or Max."
"I'm tired!" said Michael more forcefully.
"Michael, Look at me. You can't keep avoiding the issue. Why don't we sit down and talk?" Lucy was almost pleading with Michael. She knew he'd taken the news of her engagement badly but she worried just how badly he'd taken the news.
"I'm going to bed!" Michael left his mother in the kitchen and went upstairs to his bedroom where Star was already fast asleep. Michael undressed and climbed into the bed and pulled her close. He heard his mother walk past his room before he fell into a deep slumber.
The next thing Michael knew, he was being shaken awake by Sam. "Piss off!" Michael muttered, half-heartedly swatting Sam away with his arm but Sam was persistent.
"Mom said you need to take me to Grandpa's. Now hurry up, come on, let's go!" Sam attempted to pull Michael out of bed by his arm but Michael wasn't budging.
Michael pulled his arm away from Sam. "What time is it?"
"One o'clock" Sam answered. "Come on, get up!"
Star stirred from her sleep. "What's going on?" she murmured.
"Sam's being a pain in the ass!"
"No I'm not!" said Sam defensively. "Are we going or not?"
Michael groaned. Sam was old enough to get himself places without having to rely on big brother to hold his hand. "If I take you to Grandpa's, will you leave me alone for the rest of the week?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever! Can we go now please?" Sam was growing impatient, eager to see Nanook.
Michael relented. He told Sam to wait outside whilst he got dressed. After pulling on some clothes and kissing Star goodbye, Michael emerged from his bedroom with his sunglasses in his hand. "You ready?" he asked, putting the sunglasses on.
"Yes! Come on!" Sam practically herded Michael down the stairs and out the front door and soon they were on the way to Grandpa's. The rushing wind was refreshing on their faces as they rode through Santa Carla's back roads.
Grandpa was relaxing on the front porch and drinking a root beer when he saw Michael and Sam pull up on Michael's motorcycle. "Hi Grandpa!" Sam called cheerfully.
"Nanook's out back." Grandpa called back, he was anxious to talk to Michael alone.
Sam rushed towards the fields at the back of the house. "Thanks Grandpa."
Grandpa addressed his eldest grandson. "I'm glad you're here Michael; I wanted a word with you"
"What about, Grandpa?" Michael just wanted to go back home to bed, he'd done his duty, he'd dropped Sam off safely, why couldn't he just be left in peace?
"Why don't you come inside?"
Michael followed Grandpa inside of the house whilst Sam stayed outside and played with Nanook. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Why don't you sit down? Do you want a root beer?" Grandpa decided that the best way to convince Michael of the existence of vampires would be to take the direct approach, but he had to do it in a way where Michael wouldn't immediately call him crazy.
"No thanks!" Michael replied, sitting down on a living room chair. He wondered how long this chat with Grandpa was going to take.
"Michael, do you know what I used to do for a living?"
Michael inwardly sighed at the thought of having to endure a talk about "the good old days" from his grandfather. "No, Grandpa" Michael politely replied.
"I used to hunt vampires. I used to hunt them down and kill them!"
Michael was gobsmacked. The possibility that Grandpa knew about vampires had crossed his mind last night but Michael had dismissed the idea on the grounds that Grandpa would've surely warned the family upon their arrival about the real reason why Santa Carla was known as the "murder capital of the world."
Grandpa took Michael's silence as an encouraging sign and continued with enlightening Michael to the truth about Santa Carla. "Of course, when age caught up with me, I had to retire. I'd become slow, too slow for the job, and I knew your grandmother would never forgive me If I'd gotten myself killed."
"Did Grandma know?" Michael was bursting full of questions and that was the first one that sprang to mind.
Grandpa felt a tinge of guilt and regret that he'd never been fully honest with his late wife. "She knew I went out hunting but I never told her what I was hunting. I made sure she stayed away from the vampire hunting grounds hence why we chose this house. Vampires like busy places and this was the furthest house from town we could afford. This house was the safest place to live, though your grandmother never did understand why I was so adamant for us to live here, no she wanted the house that had the shops just around the corner."
"Max is a vampire." The words rolled out of Michael's mouth before Michael could stop them.
"I know which is why I don't want your mother marrying him. How long have you known about the vampires, Michael?" asked Grandpa, concerned.
"Since the summer" Michael saw the look on Grandpa's face and knew that it was confession time. "Grandpa, there's something I need to tell you"
Grandpa's face paled as Michael told him the horrible truth. His Lucy, his little girl Lucy, was on her way to becoming a creature of the night alongside her two sons, Michael's girlfriend and the child. "Have you made your first kill yet?" Grandpa always dreaded having to utter those words to a member of his family, today they applied to all three.
"No, none of us have, not yet" said Michael, aware of the blow he'd just delivered to the old man.
Grandpa regained his composure. "Then there is still time. Max is the head vampire, once he is dead, all half-vampires will become mortal again. What can you tell me the other four vampires?"
"They're crazy" said Michael, thinking back to the time they had him hanging from the train bridge with them. "They enjoy what they do and being what they are, they're out of their minds. Max seems to keep them in line but just barely."
"Therein lies the problem. Max must die, no question about that, but what to do about the other four? If we remove Max, they're going to run riot, but if we remove them then we're going to be welcoming a whole lot more vampires to Santa Carla and who knows what else. There are some things you should know about vampires, Michael, they're very territorial creatures. A vampire fighting over territory can finish off another vampire just as well as any hunter ever could. As much as I hate to say it, it may be in our best interests to keep Max's boys around unless they come seeking revenge. The moment Max dies, they're going to know, it's something to do with the blood link between them all". Grandpa continued, he seemed to be thinking aloud now rather than talking to Michael."That's going to complicate things, killing five vampires instead of just the one, very tricky business."
"I'll do it, I'll kill Max." In all honesty, Michael didn't want to kill anyone but he knew that wasn't an option, he was much faster than his grandfather, if anything went wrong and he needed to make a quick getaway, at least he stood a chance. It was his fault Mom and Sam became half-vampires therefore it was his responsibility to put it right. "I don't think David or the others are going to seek revenge, knowing them they'll probably have a party to celebrate Max's demise."
"You'll need to make sure" Said Grandpa seriously. "Once you're all mortal again, you're going to be like sitting ducks. If they come for you, they will come to kill."
"What about mom?"
"Her too. Vampires aren't picky about who they kill." Grandpa spoke from years of experience. He'd seen vampires attack victims young and old, male and female.
Michael tried to clarify his question. "No, I mean what about mom, she thinks she's in love with Max?"
"She'll just have to get over it. If you don't kill him, the alternative doesn't bare thinking about. Think of it as saving your family from a fate worse than death, it'll help."
"Why didn't you ever warn us? When we first arrived here, why didn't you tell us about the vampires?" questioned Michael.
"Would you have believed me if I had?" replied Grandpa.
"No" Michael admitted.
"Well then, that's why I didn't tell you!"
"I should be getting back. Do you want me to take Sam with me?" asked Michael.
"He'll be fine here; I'll keep an eye on him" answered Grandpa. "Michael, it needs to be done sooner rather than later. It's safer for all that way".
"I know Grandpa" said Michael turning away, his head swimming with thoughts. As he rode home, Michael knew what he had to do.