"You know, walking is taking us forever to get there", Edgar complained once again as the mismatched trio made their way across the beach. "We would have covered twice as much if we had taken the bikes".
"Oh for the love—" Bonnie glared over her shoulder at Edgar. The sky was slowly starting to lighten but it was still dark enough to make it hard to see him and no doubt hard for him to see her but the anger in her tone was very clear. "Will you stop complaining?"
"Will you stop being bitchy?" was Edgar's quick retort that caused Bonnie to spin around to face him but Alan had quickly stepped between them.
"Not now guys. We're getting close to where we found you", Alan said as he attempted to diffuse the situation before the pair blew up at each other. Each of them were on edge right now at the prospect of encountering any vampires. The Frogg brothers talked big but the pair had never actually encountered a vampire before now. Bonnie just didn't want to have to face Paul again. "Your friends could be nearby", Alan added as Bonnie and Edgar stared at him. "We should keep moving". The other two silently agreed, Edgar nodding while Bonnie turned and continued walking.
If only I was a little more powerful, maybe I could do that trick Sarah and Nancy pulled earlier, Bonnie thought. She had tried while they were walking but hadn't heard anything, which was disappointing but not surprising. This is pointless, we don't even know where we are going, Bonnie despaired. "I don't think they're around here", she said out loud after a few more minutes of walking, heading away from the trees and further along the darken beach.
"Do you have any idea where they could be?" Alan asked.
"No, I told you—" the witch broke off when an idea came to her. "We could check the car", she realized. "Maybe Sarah and Rochelle left them and headed back to the car. Maybe Nancy's there". Her voice was excited as she suggested this to the boys and Bonnie was wishing hard that this was the case. We could leave this fucking place and never look back.
Edgar looked doubtful and a little annoyed. Partly because he wished Bonnie had mentioned this idea sooner and partly because if that was the case then chances were, the Frogg brothers would not be battling vampires tonight. "Okay, where's the car?"
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There was no time to hide so Dwayne didn't even bother. Instead he chose to wait for Max to find him inside the house, which didn't take long as the elder vampire knew something was up.
"Well, well, well what have we here? A little late night snack Dwayne?" Max's voice was pleasant enough but a slight inflection in his tone told Dwayne that Max was pissed and he'd better start talking fast.
"I was driving by and saw these jokers breaking in. I figured I'd handle it", Dwayne replied in a casual tone, trying to give the illusion that he was relaxed as his face slowly returned to normal. He pulled an old dingy handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped off the excess blood on his face before stuffing the soiled fabric back into his pocket. Max stared down at the mess on the floor and the three still bodies with an expression that was half amused and half annoyed. When he spoke, Max's voice was condescending.
"And it didn't occur to you to simply phone the police?"
"No time and it's not like my bike has a phone", Dwayne replied in an annoyed voice but when he saw Max's eyes, he quickly added "Sir". In public the boys might get away with being disrespectful or disobedient but doing that alone with Max was downright dangerous.
"I see and why didn't Thorn deter them?" At the sound of his name, the dog poked its head in and looked around. Its eyes settled on the bodies and the blood before the beast moved in, sniffing the air. The two men ignored the animal as it started licking the blood off the floor.
"They hurt him". It wasn't a lie since the men had kicked Thorn around but Dwayne knew they wouldn't have had a chance if Nancy hadn't hurt Thorn.
"Did they hurt you Thorn?" Max cooed to the dog, slapping his leg to get the dog's attention. Immediately Thorn responded to his master's call and Max crouched down for a moment to pat the dog's head. Dwayne waited impatiently until Max finally straightened up and gave the other vampire his full attention. "Well, accidents happen I suppose. You better help me clean this mess up Dwayne and then I think you better stay here for tonight".
"What?"
"You didn't expect me to clean this mess up myself, did you?" Max inquired with a tight smile.
"No but why can't I go back to the cave?" Oh shit, something's up. Max never had the boys stay at his house through the day; he barely welcomed them at night and insisted that nobody saw the boys around his house. Now he was invited Dwayne to stay?
"Oh by the time we get this cleaned up it will be too close to sunrise. It would be much too risky to go back to the cave".
What could Dwayne say? If he argued Max would be suspicious so Dwayne just nodded. "Where do you want me to dump them?" It took them a full hour to clean up Dwayne's mess and unfortunately Max had been right. The night sky was starting to lighten.
"Come on Dwayne", Max called out in a parental tone that annoyed the young vampire. "It's time to retire to the basement". Dwayne stifled a groan and followed Max down the stairs. "Why were you near my house tonight Dwayne?"
He knows, Dwayne thought as he fought to keep his voice blank. He could hear the suspicion. "I was out for a ride".
"By yourself? Where are David and the others?"
"Home".
"I see. I must admit when I first saw you here I got quite the shock, what with your face covered in blood and bodies on the floor. Hmm, do you normally drive out around here by yourself?"
Dwayne shrugged, forcing himself to remain calm. "Sometimes", he lied.
"Really?" Max didn't believe him, Dwayne just knew it. "I thought perhaps you wanted to see me for some reason".
Dwayne had to come up with something so he improvised. It probably wasn't the best lie but it was the first thing that came to mind. "I wanted to talk to you about turning someone. I wanted your permission".
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"I met this guy Dwayne at the beach and we went for a ride. Then he went psycho", Nancy said vaguely, deciding not to go into the details of Dwayne being a vampire. No need to scare the nice old man who was giving her a ride to safety. Safety my ass. You're going to his house. A stranger's house. How the hell is that safe? It wasn't but Nancy was willing to bet she could handle Barnard here better than she could handle Dwayne. I'll just stay there till the sun's up and then I'll take off. Nancy glanced at the clock radio in jeep, reading the lit numbers. 4:12 am. Wow, where did all the time go?, she thought.
"Uh huh. Whatta ya mean by psycho?"
"Umm..." Nancy scrambled to think of a lie quickly. "Pyscho, crazy, guy thinks he's a fucking vampire. Tried to bite me." Oh good lie there Nancy. Why don't you just tell him the fucking truth instead? The witch rubbed her eyes, feeling incredibly tired at that moment. The adrenaline that had been pumping through her body when she was running from Dwayne was fading now and taking her energy with it.
"Uh huh", the old man muttered, glancing at Nancy before turning his eyes back to the road. He probably thinks I'm nuts, Nancy thought as she settled into her seat, her head leaning slightly to the side. She kept waiting for the inevitable 'maybe you should go to the cops' suggestion but surprisingly, it never came. Instead the pair remained silent for the rest of the drive until they pulled up in front of a secluded house. As Nancy climbed out of the jeep, she eyed the odd assortment of lawn decorations. "Nice house you've got here Barnard", the witch said in an amused, slightly mocking tone.
"Hmph. If you don't like it, you can walk back to town".
"I didn't say I didn't like it", she retorted as he turned off the jeep and climbed out. Barnard Emerson didn't say anything, simply gave Nancy a disbelieving look before heading toward the front porch. "Fine, be that way", the young woman muttered as she followed after him. As he flicked the lights on in the living room Nancy let out a little shriek. Scattered around the room were large stuffed animals, ranging from a bear to a mountain lion. Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me, Nancy thought as she looked around the creepy living room, her nerves absolutely shot. Her reaction got a chuckle out of the old man.
"Don't worry. They won't bite".
"Ha ha", Nancy sighed. "Did you kill all these creatures and stuff them?"
"Some of them", Barnard admitted. "Others I found or people gave to me".
The witch moved closer to examine the mountain lion. "Charming", she said flately. "You must have some interesting friends".
Barnard muttered something under his breath as he moved to near by closet. After discovering the old man dabbled in taxidermy, Nancy watched him carefully just in case he decide to whip out a butcher knife or shot gun or god knows what else. For a moment Nancy had a mental picture of herself standing stuffed in this crack-pot's living room. She shuddered at the thought and was relieved when he returned with a blanket instead of a deadly weapon. Note to self: Stop going for rides with strange men, old or young, the witch thought as Barnard handed her the blanket.
"You can sleep on the couch and my daughter will give you a ride to town tomorrow".
"Thanks", Nancy replied, actually feeling somewhat grateful. There was nothing like running for your life to humble a person. Of course Nancy didn't think she'd get any sleep with all these stuff creatures around, staring at her with their glassy eyes yet within ten minutes of settling onto the couch, the witch was out for the night.
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Rochelle was slowly awakened by an annoying itch on her left ankle. She tried to scratch it when she still half asleep but found that moving her arms was impossible. Wha—What's going on? she wondered sleepily as she opened her eyes and blinked. Her first sight was an odd mobile made from shells, beads, dried starfish and other pieces of riff raff hanging above the bed. "That's pretty", she murmured in a drowsy voice.
"You're awake", a relieved voice said but Rochelle couldn't see who it was. She turned her head to see a young man sitting in a chair nearby with a brown haired girl perched on the arm of the chair. There was something very familiar about the boy's angular features, curly blond hair and concerned eyes. It took Rochelle a few minutes of staring at him to finally remember what had happened.
"Oh my god. Oh my god, ohmygod, ohgodohgod—" Rochelle started to hyperventilate as she looked down and saw her bound hands and feet.
"Don't panic", the strange girl assured her. "You're safe".
"Safe? Safe?" Rochelle let out a panicked laugh. "You bastards tied me up. How is that safe".
"If we didn't, David would insist that we kill you", the boy finally spoke as he got up and moved closer.
Marko, Rochelle remembered. His name is Marko but who's the girl and where's Sarah? "Where's Sarah?" she managed to say despite her feelings of panic.
"She's safe", replied Marko. The other girl gave Marko a look of disbelief, as though she'd hardly describe Sarah's current condition as 'safe'.
Rochelle tried to move her bound hands. "If this is your idea of safe, you're out of your fucking mind. I want to see Sarah".
"You will in a few minutes when David returns with her", Marko assured her. "How do you feel? Is your head still hurting?"
"Oh I feel just great! Nothing like being tied up to make a girl feel her best", Rochelle said scathingly. She felt half-way torn between anger and near hysteria. It took her a minute but Rochelle managed to calm herself enough to ask another question. "What are you going to do to us?"
The girl gave her a pitying look while Marko sighed and stared off in the distance. Truth be told, he didn't know what they were going to do. It was obvious David had decided to play with Sarah for a while, possibly even turn her but what about her friends? Paul would probably argue that they should turn the whole lot of them and while Marko wouldn't mind having a few girls around, he wasn't sure David would go for that. The girls were unusual, who knew what turning them would do? "I don't know", he eventually admitted. "Tonight you'll be safe but tomorrow things might change. If you want to ensure your survival then stay here and don't try to escape", he warned her. Rochelle looked at Mark like he was out of his mind so he went on to explain.
"If you try to escape and go to the cops or anyone else, we'll come after you. If you stay, I might be able to convince David not to kill you". Though I doubt, Marko thought.
"You expect me to stay here tied up all day?"
Marko sighed, knowing what it sounded like but in his mind it really was for the best. "Star and Laddie will be here. If you need anything, wake Star", he explained with a gesture to the girl as a little kid joined them. Rochelle could only assume that was Laddie.
"Where will you be?"
"Asleep". At that moment David and Sarah joined the group. The latter had a slightly sleepy, clam look on her face that suggested David was once again playing with her mind to lull her into a sense of security. David was looking pointedly at Marko before allowing himself a smug look at Star. Her jaw tightened but Star said nothing, returning that look blankly and hiding her emotions. Rochelle was about to call out to Sarah but Marko, sensing her intention, grabbed her arm and gave her a warning look. Rochelle wisely kept her mouth shut.
"You'll have some company today Star", David said pleasantly as he guided Sarah to the bed. The pale vampire glanced down as Rochelle, attempting to capture her eyes but after seeing Sarah acting so strangely, the dark skinned was smart enough to avoid all eye contact. "This is Sarah", he introduced the witch to the half-vampire. "And I see you've met Rochelle. Has she said anything?" David looked at Marko.
"She's confused and barely remembers what happened", Marko lied. "I'll make sure she stays quiet till tomorrow".
David nodded. "And what about Dwayne? Is he back yet?"
"No, he probably got caught too far out of town tonight and is hiding away somewhere". Usually the boys stuck together and slept close by for safety but on the odd occasion, they did end up spending a night away from the cave. David frowned, clearly not liking the thought that Dwayne was out there somewhere but it was too late to do anything about it now. "We'll find him tomorrow. Star, keep an eye on them. Marko", he gesture toward an unseen part of the cave.
Marko tried to give Rochelle a reassuring look but she refused to meet his eyes. He then followed David, inquiring about Paul. "He's already in there", David assured him before the two boys disappeared from Rochelle's line of sight. Sarah was already settling into the large bed next to Rochelle when the witch whispered to her frantically.
"Sarah!"
"Shhhh". This came from Star who was holding her finger to her lips and tilting her head to the direction the boys had disappeared to. Not that Sarah was paying Rochelle any attention. Instead, the witch was turning her back to the other girl and getting comfortable, clearly intent on going to sleep. After a few moments, Star whispered to Rochelle. "Wait till after an hour after sunrise".
"What?"
"She's under David's influence but after sunrise it will be easier to get her out of it as he'll be asleep". Star got up then and moved to a vanity table tucked away in one cover of the room where Rochelle saw her retrieve something that glinted in the soft candle light of the cave. When she returned to the bed, she leaned down close the other girl. "When the sun is up, you can cut yourself free and go. There's a staircase leading up the cliffs over there. Don't go into any other part of the cave and get out of town before sunset. Do you understand?"
Rochelle nodded at which Star tucked a small yet sharp pen knife into her hands before rising up. There was a smaller bed to the side that Laddie had climbed up and Star moved to join him for the night while Sarah and Rochelle occupied her bed. While Sarah and the vampires drifted off, Rochelle struggled to get a look at her watch. She managed to twist the band around so that the face of the watch was toward her and saw the time. Her heart sank.
5:43am. She had another hour to go before the sun would be high enough.
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Authors Notes: Thanks for your reviews guys and I hope you like this chapter. Not a whole lot happened I'll admit but hopefully the next chapter will be a bit more exciting. Hopefully. As always, I welcome any suggestions people might have. I might not necessarily use it but I'm always open to hearing it.