Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Thanks for new favourites and follows and to Amelia-bella1, TishaLiz, TheGoofyCat, Llayth, JaliceJelsa4eva and Guest (response below) for their reviews. Enjoy and please review!

Guest: Thanks for the review! Yeah she'll figure out soon enough, and yeah things have been tough for her :( but it could end happy in some way, you never know :) hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost Boys, just my OCs.

I didn't even bother going to school the next day, I couldn't face a day there after last night. So I stayed in and made sure to at least read and do some studying, even if it was practically night when I woke up again. I could hear my dad up in the kitchen moving around, he must have thought I was tired after school again.

I lay in a ball on my side, staring at the wall, seeing nothing and everything. I kept thinking over every second I could remember spending with Marko, if I had ever thought something was up with him, or had I ever been scared. But I couldn't remember a single time that I had felt uncomfortable, even with the air of mystery surrounding him or the others, I always seemed to feel at ease around him. Only now could I see how truly stupid I had been.

"You'll be looking for me tomorrow night whether you're ready or not." His words swam round my head like lyrics to a song you couldn't help but sing in your head after you hear it, except ever time I heard them I got just a little bit more paranoid. What had he meant by that?

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard my dad's footsteps coming down the hall, I stayed lying down hoping he'd think I was still asleep. A few seconds later I felt his hand shake my shoulder gently, "Claire, I made dinner, are you hungry?"

I licked my dried lips before replying, "I'm not hungry." That wasn't true, I felt like I hadn't eaten in weeks. But I knew in all likelihood any food I ate would probably just come back up later.

"Come on, you need to eat something." He said, shaking my shoulder a bit more. Finally I gave in and got up, following him into the kitchen to sit down. I stared down at the messy pot roast, my nose wrinking at the burnt smell where he had left it in the oven a bit too long.

"It's not as good as you would make but I did my best." He chuckled.

"Thanks." I told him, picking up my fork and prodding the food, picking a small amount onto my fork. Even as it got closer to my lips I had a hard time opening my mouth, it was like my body didn't want the food at all.

I chewed as fast as I could, even the flavours tasted off and my stomach twinged, I actually had to force the food down with some water.

"So how was school?" he asked.

I coughed, "Fine."

He nodded, "And how was work last night?"

I suppressed a shudder, "It was fine."

"Are you feeling alright?"

I let my fork drop with a clatter, "I'm fine. Alright? Please stop with the questions." I begged, running my hands through my hair.

"Did something happen? At school or... With Marko?"

My temper flared at the mention of his name, "No. Can you stop asking questions, please?"

"I'm just trying to help-"

"Well you're not." I said, glaring before picking up my plate, "I'm not hungry."

I went over to the sink, scraping my food into the bin before rinsing the plate out, "Listen, if you're angry, that's fine. But don't expect to get away with giving attitude." He said.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

He went back to eating without saying a word, I rolled my eyes and went back down to my room, shutting the door behind me. I lay back down on the bed with my hands on my stomach and my feet out straight, trying to remember the weird breathing thing Juliette had shown me that she learned in a theatre group, it was meant to help with stress or something like that. Although I was pretty sure my problems were bigger than having difficulty learning lines.

When the breathing didn't help I turned onto my side, deciding if I slept till morning things wouldn't suck as much as they did now. Plus I could prove Marko wrong, I wouldn't be going to him tonight.

Soon everything seemed so quiet that even my heartbeat was louder than usual, I started to get annoyed actually, it even seemed to slow down then speed up at random times. My eyes shot open as a familiar pain started circling my heart, oh God. Not again.

I ran out into the hall and went to the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it behind me. I turned the faucet on to a steady stream to cover up my loud breathing, maybe if I got enough air through me my heart wouldn't feel so tight. It didn't seem to work, and I sank down to sit on the ground, clutching my chest as I realised I was going to have another pain attack.

It was even worse when it hit, the tiny apartment meant I needed to be extra quiet so my dad wouldn't hear, he'd make me go to the hospital and I hated going there, this was just stress or something. I gritted my teeth and my nails scraped down the tiles on the floor until it was done, I felt the weird sensation of my heartbeat slowing to a stop again, but it must have been the noise fading.

I grabbed onto the edge of the sink and hauled myself to my feet, soaking a facecloth in the water before rubbing it across my forehead. I shut the water off and leant on the sink, my eyes drifting up towards the mirror.

I screamed. Loud and piercing. Pure instinct, it's what you do when you see something truly horrifying. I had orange eyes.

Even with the faint reflection they glowed bright enough that they looked completely inhuman, my natural colour gone and replaced with the same colour Marko's had been. I staggered back, my back hitting the shower door loudly, the glass shuddering.

"Claire?" I heard my father call, the doorknob turning as he tried to open the door, "Claire, open the door now."

I shook my head, "I can't."

"Claire I heard you scream, what's wrong?"

I struggled to think of an excuse, "I thought a saw a huge spider. It's nothing, I'm fine." That was a crap lie, normally spiders didn't bother me.

"Claire unlock the door now."

I still had the bright eyes, my gums felt like they were moving and my nails dug into my palms, "Leave me alone!" I shouted.

"Trust me, you'll be looking for me tomorrow night whether you're ready or not." I froze as Marko's voice swam through my head again, and now it made sense. Of course I would go looking for him after this.

I was a vampire just like him. Somehow I had become one of them.

"Son of a bitch!" I whimpered, anger taking hold and I grabbed the nearest thing to me, which happened to be a half-full shampoo bottle, and hurled it at the mirror. It shattered into a million pieces and they spilled into the sink and onto the floor.

The door to the bathroom was wrenched open into the bathroom, the wood of the door splintering where my dad had broke the lock. I watched him look round in alarm before his gaze settled on me, my head immediately ducked to hide my eyes.

"What the hell happened?" He demanded, I bit my lip as my throat flared with pain. Thirst. For blood.

"I don't know." I mumbled.

"You don't know? You broke a mirror and you don't know how you did it?" He demanded, sighing heavily before bending down to start gathering up the shards.

"No!" I cried, grabbing his arm, the last thing I needed was for him to get a cut, "It's my mess, I will clean it up. I promise!" I said, pushing him out the doorway of the bathroom. I swung the door closed after him even though it wouldn't lock, the need to get myself far away from him was the only thing I could make sense of right now.

I turned and hurriedly gathered up the shards, pulling the trash can over to drop them into it, sweeping the small splinters, hissing as one cut into my palm.

"Damn." I muttered, flicking the shard away before tying the top of the bag. I grabbed it and jogged down towards the door, "I'm gonna put this in the trash downstairs." I said hurriedly, not waiting for a reply as I shut the door behind me.

The basement smelled like mold and garbage, the damp and cold air was thick but it was about the only place I could be alone, people rarely came down here when they could just dump things down the garbage chute. I dumped the bag into the trash and leant against a wall, breathing deeply.

I can't be a vampire. I can't. This was all just some weird dream, if I shut my eyes and concentrated hard enough, I could wake up from this freakshow of a nightmare and find myself in my own bed, and none of this will have happened.

Finally I gave up, the feeling of a cold wall pressing against my back was too much to ignore, I had to admit I wasn't dreaming. I opened my eyes and looked out in front of me, which set alarm bells off in my head as I realised what I was staring ahead at looked a lot like the floor.

Then it became clear I was on the ceiling. I tried to get back down but it was like not being able to move on the roundabout in the playground when it feels like it's going at a hundred miles an hour, every move feels like it's underwater. I reached out towards the ground trying to lower myself when the basement door opened.

My breath caught as the middle-aged balding maintenance man entered, whistling merrily to himself as he carried some bags over to the trash, throwing them in carelessly and standing with his hands on his hips. Leave, you idiot!

I mentally groaned as he pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one, taking a deep breath before letting out a relieved sigh. If only both of us could be so relaxed, buddy. It seemed like an eternity later that he dropped the butt of the cigarette onto the ground, stamping on it with his boot. He turned to leave and as the door slammed shut I let out the breath I had been holding. Then the lock turned.

I clambered down off the ceiling one way or another, it took intense focus and I was panicking too much at first. I was actually envious that Marko had such skill at carrying me halfway across town when I couldn't even get to the floor of a room by myself.

Marko. I needed to see him. Maybe there was a way to change me back, I could still have time. Whatever he did could be undone and I could go on as normal. He'd see how truly hopeless and desperate I was and he'd change me back. It was all I had, a tiny sliver of hope. And I'll be damned if I was gonna let it slip through my fingers.

I grasped the handle of the door tightly and turned, pulling when there was no give. Then I switched to put one foot against the wall beside the door and wrap both hands around the handle, pulling with my hands and pushing with my foot to give me extra strength, but the door merely creaked in protest. I banged loudly hoping someone would hear me, then I figured the man probably went home for the night because no one ever comes down here.

The thought hit me that the more time I spend in here, the closer I could be coming to having no way to change back. I panicked and in a flash, my foot shot out to kick the door, breaking the lock and the door swung out and hit the wall loudly. Well that makes it two doors the Ross family is responsible for breaking tonight.

I had no cash on me and I couldn't go back upstairs even to grab my keys, my dad wouldn't let me back out. There was no option but to run. The desperate yearning for hope, for this to all go away, was the only thing pushing me to ignore the aching in my limbs as I ran through the streets, taking every possible short cut to get there in time.

Going to the boardwalk didn't even occur to me, I knew when what he said about me coming to look for him finally made sense that there was only one place he'd be, one place that I'd know to go to for sure. I squeezed through the small gap in the door to the warehouse and looked around, just about giving up hope when a movement caught my eye from above and I looked up to see him lounging on the railings, one knee bent which his arm rested on, the other swinging casually back and forth in the air.

"Told you you'd be looking for me." He grinned, I felt a sneer slip onto my face before I could stop it.

"Yeah, here I am. Now tell me what the hell I do to stop this happening." I said, it wasn't the most subtle way of getting him to change me back, but my sides throbbed from running and my legs burned, I had no patience for subtlety.

He stood up on the railings and I watched him jump gracefully over and float to the ground, both feet landing solidly. He made it look so easy.

His face contorted in thought, "Stop it from happening? There is no stopping it. It's not exactly a free trial before you make a decision, there's only one option."

"And what's that?"

He shrugged, "Feed, become a vampire. Like us."

"I don't want to be a vampire. And I sure as hell aren't going to feed, so you better tell me how I turn back." I spat.

"You don't."

"Bullshit!" I shouted, the word echoing off the walls of the warehouse, "There has got to be a way to change me back, but of course you won't tell me what it is. Can you at least tell me how you made me into a vampire?"

He leaned in slowly, "Enjoy the wine from the other night?"

"What has that got to do with-" I froze as the sinister tone of his voice told me what I had wanted to know, the mischief dancing in his eyes as he enjoyed the big reveal thoroughly, "You didn't..."

"I'll admit, there was some debate over whether or not I got you to drink enough. David thought a sip wouldn't even change you, but I knew as soon as I saw you in the restaurant that you had changed. You even looked freaked out so I knew you had experienced some symptoms. Was it a weird day?"

I watched in disgust as he chuckled, strolling around and running his hands over the candle flames on a table, "I fell asleep in class, I couldn't stand any food in the restaurant and I thought my heart stopped at one point. That and, oh yeah, I don't have a reflection anymore!" I cried.

"That would be the growing aversion to sunlight, the hunger for blood and the vampire blood taking over your system. The reflection thing must have freaked you out."

I nodded, "And I have orange eyes."

"I always thought you'd suit them." He said, I stared back wondering if it was a joke or not, "So it's safe to say the blood worked. Now you feed and then you're one of us."

"I don't want to be one of you. I want to be human." I argued.

He laughed, "Human? Why on earth would you want to be human? Feeble and helpless? Naïve and stupid? Being a vampire means you never die, you never age and you can do whatever you want!"

"Except I have to kill people, like you have been doing ever since you came here, ever since you turned. People with families and their own lives, cut short just so you can drink their blood." I argued

"Oh of course, let's not forget every human is perfect and without fault." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Humans are just as selfish as we are, and some of them deserve to die. Take Stacey, that girl would have done nothing but make people miserable for the rest of her life. The world's a better place when bitches like her become worm food. And we get a meal out of it, so all the better for us, right?"

I shook my head, "You are insane. You actually think you can sell this to me? There is nothing you can say that'll make me want to kill someone. Not a damn thing, so you may as well just figure out how you're gonna turn me human again because I am not going to be a vampire."

He sighed, "What if I told you that if you don't turn vampire, you're out of luck. Because you can't change back, and if you're really not even going to consider it, then there's no reason to let you live any longer."

It was a scare tactic, designed to make me panic, I kept a straight face even though my knees were shaking, "If that's what you have to do, then do it."

I gasped as my feet left the ground and my back slammed into the wall, Marko had come right at me at the speed of a bullet, his hands wrapping tightly around my throat. My fingers clawed at his sleeves in an effort to free myself.

"Don't make me kill you Claire, just give in, it'll be a lot easier."

I struggled against him, even though it was hopeless, eventually my body sagged with defeat and I sucked in a shallow breath, just enough to say one word, "No."

His eyes flashed and he dropped his hands, an impressed smirk on his face, "And there was me thinking you'd crumble. You're strong, Claire, and that's why I know you can handle this. That's why I made you like us, David said you wouldn't accept it but I knew different, I knew you'd come round after a while, you'd be tough but eventually you'd see. This is the life you want, Claire."

"How the hell would you know what kind of life I want?" I asked, rubbing the skin of my neck where his fingers had pressed on my windpipe.

He leant one arm on the wall behind me, brushing a stray strand of hair off my face with the other, a smile playing on the corners of his lips, "Because I know you. And I know you'll end up accepting this life, because from now on, it's the only one you'll have, Claire."