'…I've been in a cave, for forty days, only a spark to light my way. I wanna give out, I wanna give in…' The jazzy tune, blurting out from some boombox, lured Marko further down the shorefront. Laughter, high and shrill, rolled out from beneath the pier where a gathering of about four or five people clustered around a dying fire.

It was a scene Marco had seen so often in Santa Carla, especially during the summer season. The threat of summer storms and the torrential downfall that often petered out just as fast as it began didn't seem to put guys like these off partying on the beach. Flickering flames licked lazily at the driftwood fire they had built just a little way under the pier, sheltered from the view above the shore path that wound around the rocky outcrop of Santa Carla's sea front.

Marko's eyes gleamed, the pupils dilated with excitement as the familiar thrill of an imminent kill shuddered through him. They boys didn't often hunt alone, usually they would attack in pairs or their pack, but the ache in his throat was burning as hot as the camp fire. He licked his lips, half a snarl on his face as his features hardened and elongated in the shadows.

'Mom, mommy…' The sudden whimpering caught Marko's attention and he frowned, distracted, and turned to the sound. 'My foot's stuck!' The little boy cried out, a little louder. Marko drew closer, glancing over his shoulder to note that the five dancing figures were too busy rocking out to the blaring tune to even hear the boy's pleas. He guessed the woman with the long hair, the only female he could see in the group, was the boy's mother. But she was too busy grinding her hips to much whooping delight to even hear the child as he struggled. Marko smoothed his face as best he could into a mask of human concern.

'Hey buddy, what's up?' he asked gently, crouching down on one knee in front of the boy. 'You shouldn't be out this late at night, why aren't you in bed?' Marko frowned, close enough now to see the boy could only have been about eight years old.

'My dad forgot to pick me up this weekend and my mom didn't want to miss the party.' The boy nodded over at the little crowd busily getting down beneath the pier, his brown bowl-cut flopping into his hazel eyes at the motion. 'She said I could come if I stayed outta the way, so I've been searching these rock pools for starfish – but I slipped and now I can't get my leg out.' He turned his face up to Marko, tear tracks on his chubby cheeks as he sniffed loudly and wiped his nose on the grubby military jacket he wore.

'Don't sweat, bud, I'll help ya out,' Marko smiled, motioning for the boy to sit down on the rock behind him to take the weight off his leg. 'What's ya name?'

'Laddie,' the boy said, sniffing again as he sat awkwardly down, wincing at the pain the motion caused his ankle.

'I'm Marko.' He glanced up again at the dancing group, the woman's shapely silhouette suspended now as she wrapped her legs around the nearest man. 'Does mommy party a lot?' he asked, frowning as he looked down to see why Laddie couldn't just wriggle his foot free.

'Yeah, most weekends. I don't mind though, her friends help her feel better. They give her medicine. Uncle Larry helps her with her injections – she must be awful sick to have to take so much medicine all the time.' Marko glanced up into Laddie's open, innocent face.

'Laddie why aren't you wearing any shoes?' The boy nodded over to where he'd tossed them earlier.

'I didn't want them to get them wet.' Marko smiled at the child's logic, but could see the problem. Without the sturdy leather boots – well-worn and a little down at the heel – his unprotected foot had become jammed between the smooth rock and a jagged shard on the opposite side. A sweet metallic scent reached his nostrils as Marko withdrew his hand from the water. Holding his hand up to the light he could see the blood diluted with salt water that now layered his skin. Marko could feel the sharp prick of his teeth as they elongated in his mouth but he clamped his lips shut.

'Think you can get my foot out? I've been yelling them for a least fifteen minutes and no one's heard me. My foot hurts.'

Marko nodded, ducking his head a little as he heaved at the smaller rock, pulling it back to release the pressure. 'Pull your leg out, quick,' Marko said quietly. Laddie complied, falling backwards with the force of yanking at his own limb and crying out again.

'What's the matter now?' Marko asked warily, the scent of blood suddenly stronger. He could feel his face changing, his nostrils flaring and his mouth drooling as he inched closer to the boy who sat up. Laddie thrust his hand into Marko's face as he cried. Fat, hot tears rolled down his cheeks as the blood ran warm from the deep gash that split the skin on the inside of his wrist, staining the dark blue of his coat sleeve black. Even in the dim light Marko had no trouble in seeing the shard of broken glass from a smashed beer bottle, so carelessly tossed away, poking out from the boy's smooth flesh. The wound was artery deep.

Marko could feel his heart galloping, lust for that sweet, fresh blood burnt so fiercely within him, yet panic and disgust at such a thought made him hesitate. But the boy was fading fast, his skin pale in the dark and his whimpering growing fainter. Marko did the only thing he could as his instinct took over. He cradled the boy to his chest and fed on the bleeding wound. Still the party raved on and Laddie's mother didn't even look up.

'…This is our crime, this is our sin… But I still believe…' bawled Tim Cappello.

'It's not safe,' Max repeated with more patience than he felt. David leant against the counter of the video store, one of Max's more lucrative businesses. The sweet, curly haired girl who usually kept the store open late for Max – until he could employ a new manager – had long since gone.

'Franco is long gone,' David said, flipping an empty video case on the counter top in an effort to land it on the short edge.

'My dear boy,' Max chuckled, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he turned away from the returned video's he'd been replacing on the self. 'He will be looking to seek his revenge, bide his time. I know I would be, if it had been my son destroyed. The Di Peco's are not a family to take a slight like this lightly. They will be looking for any way possible they could get to you.'

'I turned her, I can't just abandon her,' growled David.

'Franco already knows how attached you are to the girl and such attachments are dangerous. They make you weak. It was because of her that this whole messy business happened in the first place.' David smacked his fist down on the counter top, making the video boxes there jump. He whirled on Max, his ice blue eyes dangerous.

'It was because of their greed that this all started, their need to prolong the death of their food.'

'We could have worked together,' Max said, sadly, placing the last video tape in its spot and turning back to David with his hands spread. 'We could have been great together.'

'I would never have let that happen,' David snarled. A growl rumbled from the throat of the big cream coloured dog that lay behind the counter, who lifted its pointed nose and eyed David with a dark glance.

'Now, now, Thorn, David will calm down,' Max admonished the dog, smiling a little. The dog yawned and lay his head down again upon his thick paws as David ran a leather-gloved hand through his white-blonde hair and sighed heavily.

'It's been an eternity since I felt like this about anyone.'

'I understand, I have been looking out for that special someone myself. But you are still young, David. You have the whole of eternity before you. Besides, if you truly love her, you will push her away to save her. She is part vampire now, if Franco knows she still means so much to you and he catches her, her end will not be quick.'

That was a low blow. David clenched his fist and pressed it to his lips as he closed his eyes, holding back the angry retort that threatened to spill from his lips. Of course he loved Star, he hadn't felt this way about anyone in as long as he could remember. She was so strong, beautifully innocent despite the curse he had marred her with. He knew she felt the same about him, and to push her away would break her heart. How could he stand that? That endless eternity stretched out before him, leaving him alone and lost in the shadows of his half-life?

'This is all your fault,' David finally managed to say. 'It was you who ordered the others to give her to Niko.'

'You were going to do that anyway,' Max replied, flipping off the lights at the back of the store.

'I was going to be there with her. I would never have let Niko do those things to her, I would never have had to turn her then.' Max nodded a little sadly.

'I guess letting her go would have been easier if she had still been human.'

'Yes, but now my blood is in her veins,' David said.

'And mine is in yours,' Max countered, taking David's face gently in his hands. 'You are my son. My first-made. Your life is important to me and I do not want to see you put at risk. Please do as I ask. We will be a family soon, I promise you that, and then I will help you find someone to fill that void but until then you must do as I ask. Push Star away, or I will do it for you.' David tore Max's hands away, knowing he was now powerless to disobey his maker, and crashed his way out of the store to tear away into the night.