Chapter Song Selection: "Welcome To My Nightmare" by Alice Cooper

Sarah's eyes flew open.

Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god!

She planted her hands against Lincoln's chest and shoved him away from her as hard as she could. They both hit the dirt just as the blood came pouring out of her in a thick red stream. She choked back the gore as her mind tried to purge what it had just experienced. But it was no use. It was there now. The memories. Stuck inside her head for good.

This was a mistake.

"That was David's reaction too. I could never forget that part." Lincoln's voice rattled like an old tin can as he braced himself against the front tire of the Chevelle.

"Impossible."

Sarah wheezed before another wave of nausea gripped her. Partially digested blood soaked the dry ground around before she struggled to her feet, half-covered in her own crimson vomit.

"What-what was that?"

"I warned you."

Sarah just stared down at Lincoln in horror.

"He took you apart! Lincoln, he-."

It had gone beyond a savage beat down. Beyond anything she could fathom on her own. Drawn and quartered with a railroad spike. Flayed alive while suspended by what was left. Just thinking of it made Sarah heave again.

What Lincoln had done with the bodies of fifteen Santa Carla residents had been an atrocity. Unforgivable. Max had returned the gesture. Only he had wiped the floor with Lincoln before he disemboweled and hung him by his own entrails so that he had easy access to destroy every nerve ending with a discarded metal pipe.

Sarah pulled herself out of the memory before she could witness what came after. She never wanted witness something like that ever again.

"Seen enough? Cause there's a lot more."

Sarah shook her head vehemently.

"No. No more. Please. I don't want to know."

"So, you still wanna take on Max? Now that you've seen what he can do?"

"Why don't you ask him!"

Lincoln never saw what hit him. A baseball bat slammed into the side of his skull with a god-awful crack. Paul let loose a victorious war whoop as he wielded the metal bat aloft and slammed it down again, this time right into Lincoln's face as he pitched forward.

"Paybacks a bitch huh!"

Paul snarls were laced with venom as he grabbed Lincoln by his hair. Marko materialized at his side with a lead pipe under one arm and grabbed hold of Lincoln's legs. Together the two lifted the concussed vampire and hauled him away from the muscle car so that they would have enough room to work Lincoln over with as much finesse that they could manage in the short amount of time that they had.

"Lincoln!"

Sarah's panicked scream turned into a surprised screech when an arm snaked around her throat and squeezed.

"He can't hear you." David hissed into Sarah's ear as his hand clamped over her mouth and jerked her backward. Caught unprepared Sarah's reaction time was too slow. That gave David enough of an advantage to wrestle her to the ground and pin her beneath him.

"David? What are you doing here? Leave Lincoln alone!" Sarah coughed as David wrenched her right arm behind her back. "Let me go! Lincoln!"

"Oh shut up!" David snapped and slapped Sarah as she tried to fight back. Hard.

"Boys! Hurry up!"

"Don't worry about us. We're good. Just do what you have to." Marko shouted back as Paul chuckled darkly. Already Lincoln looked like he had met the back-end of a semi in reverse.

"I wish I could kill this fucker now!" Paul swung the now bloodied bat with a batter's grace as it whistled through the air once more. He grinned at the meaty smack along with the all-too familiar crack of broken ribs.

"You'll get him tomorrow Paul. Now we just have to make sure he gets the message." Marko slammed his pipe down once, twice, three times and was finally rewarded with the beautiful sound of Lincoln's cannon bone breaking in three different spots.

"Still don't make it fair." Paul muttered while flipped Lincoln onto his stomach. "He ain't even fightin' back."

"That's because you knocked him into next week. I told you not to hit him that hard." Marko reminded Paul as the two worked on pulverizing Lincoln's spine.

"I got caught up in the moment."

Paul cackled as he tap-danced down Lincoln's back. Man, that was going to hurt like hell when he woke up.

"Yeah well do you want him to be able to move tomorrow?" Marko pointed out as he grabbed Paul and pulled him off of Lincoln before anything could be shattered beyond repair. "We're good."

"Fine. But he's mine tomorrow."

Paul snarled, his fangs bared to emphasize his claim. Marko just rolled his eyes. They had gone over this at least ten times and still Paul was adamant that he would be the one to dish out Santa Carla justice when the moment came.

They could not kill Lincoln outside of Santa Carla. Hell they were not even allowed to leave the Santa Carla border without permission from Max so them being out here was strictly off the books.

"I know Paul. C'mon, grab his other arm." Marko tossed his piece of pipe and took hold of Lincoln's busted right arm. Paul shouldered his bloodied bat and yanked Lincoln's left arm up none too gently before the two dragged Lincoln back to the car.

It had taken them under four minutes to do the work of ten.

"He sure won't be happy when he wakes up." Marko laughed as Lincoln was dumped beside the trunk of his car. Paul could not help but admire the classic Chevelle from every angle. It was one hell of a machine. Pity. Whistling a jaunty tune Paul whipped out a switchblade that he had brought along for this particular task.

As Marko looked on, Paul slashed the Chevelle's high performance tires before he went to work on defacing the muscle car's immaculate paint job.

"Hey Marko, remind me how you spell payback?" Paul laughed as he engraved the word into the driver's door.

"Don't forget to asshole Paul. Because he is a major asshole." Marko smirked and gave Lincoln's battered unconscious form a swift kick just for the hell of it.

"Yes sir!" Paul barked in a mock salute as he spun around and kicked the driver's side mirror clean off.

"Are you two finished yet?" David slung Sarah over his shoulder before he rose to his feet. She hung limp and lifeless but there were no obvious signs of assault.

"Just about! Give me one more second."

Paul quickly carved his name into the front chrome bumper with a skillful flourish. There would be no getting that out without some severe auto-body overhauling.

"How'd you shut her up?" Marko asked David curiously. They all knew from experience that Sarah never went down easy. "Did you drain her?"

"No. If I did then that master would know about it. They're too closely bonded now and the last thing we need is for him to be aware of this." David explained as he dug into his coat pocket and withdrew an empty syringe that he had taken from Paul's private stash.

"A large enough dose of the horse tranquilizers Paul uses is strong enough to knock out almost any vampire. And she's a lightweight."

"Dude, I never would have thought of that." Paul whistled, highly impressed by David's tactful problem solving.

"No kidding. You just use the stuff to chase a high."

"Yeah, and it's totally worth it. You should try it some time."

"I'll pass."

"Whatever. Your loss."

"And here come the cavalry. Right on time."

Marko nodded to the two forms of Edgar and Tory who ran toward them from the highway.

"Remember, no one mentions that Sarah's one of us." David gave Paul a hard look as he laid Sarah down on the battered hood of the car and stood back.

"God...did you guys...have to park...your bikes so...freaking far away?" Tory gasped as she and Edgar slowed to a staggering walk once they got close enough to the group. Edgar was coughing and panting just as hard as Tory was, having not had to run as far as he had since the sixth grade.

"Did you get him?" Edgar asked Marko and Paul and he got his answer in the form of twin cruel smirks. "Why'd I ask?"

"What's wrong with Sarah?"

Tory growled when she saw Sarah lying there exposed on the hood of the car. She glared at David and her bandaged hand instantly crept towards her belt where.

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. I did not touch her. Boys?" David looked over to Marko and Paul, who nodded in agreement.

"She was like this when we got here." Marko said, his naturally cherubic face made it impossible for Tory to figure out whether he was lying or not. Paul wisely kept his trap shut.

"Then why is she like that? What's wrong with her? What did you do?" Tory asked, not satisfied with that answer. These guys were vampires. She could not trust them. Not by a long shot.

"Probably because she's in an induced sleep. Makes it easier to feed off someone over an extended period of time. Sweetens the flavour." David did not looking the least bit guilty as he made the two teens squirm. "Vampires have the ability to do that you know."

"I know that!" Tory glared at David. They locked eyes for a heated moment before Tory turned and gave Edgar a questioning glance. He was the vampire expert after all, not her.

"It's true." Edgar carefully kept his distance from David and moved around the vampires so he could get a look at Lincoln. "Jesus. You guys go all out."

If Edgar had not known that Lincoln was already one of the undead he would have thought that the guy had been beaten to death.

"Every time." Paul leered as he flashed Edgar a toothy grin while he gave the bloodied baseball bat a twirl. Edgar swallowed hard and looked away.

"So what do you want us to do?" Tory asked, getting down to business. The sooner they did what the vampires wanted, the sooner they could get back to Santa Carla and the others.

"Seal him in the trunk."

David motion at the car and Marko and Paul quickly pried open the Chevelle's trunk. Lincoln was stuffed into it with a few extra jabs for good measure.

"So that's why you wanted the holy water." Edgar swung off his backpack and opened it. Inside were canisters of holy water and holy oil, enough to cover the entire body of the car if need be.

"That's right." David's face remained expressionless as he instinctively moved out of the way when Edgar and Tory grabbed the canisters. It was a natural reaction that all vampires had to the stuff but Edgar and Tory did not seem to notice as they closed the trunk and began to pour the blessed water over it.

When Lincoln regained consciousness there would be no way for him to get out. With the car parked far away from the highway Lincoln would bake under the scorching Californian sun while trapped in the confines of his own trunk. He probably would not die from it but after the beating that Marko and Paul had dealt him, Lincoln was going to be more than miserable. Inwardly David applauded his own cleverness as he watched Edgar switch to the holy oil and began to rub it into the seams for extra security.

"Well this sucker's not getting out any time soon." Tory said once she had finished her fourth canister of holy water.

"Good. Make sure you get that stuff off your hands before you meet us back at the bikes." David made sure that they got the message. If they didn't then he and the others would simply leave them here to fend for themselves and find their own way back to town. It was one hell of a long walk.

"Paul, Marko." David nodded toward the direction of their bikes. With identical smug expressions Paul strutted off while Marko followed. David was the last to leave as he carefully picked up Sarah while being x-rayed under Tory's baleful stare. The two locked eyes for a final time and there was something in the way that David regarded Tory that sent an icy chill down her spine. It felt like David had something hanging over her.

When David was finally out of hearing range, Edgar and Tory turned to each other.

"Figured out how to kill these guys yet?" Tory asked as Edgar handed her a regular water bottle and a torn rag for her to use as a towel.

"I'm working on it." Edgar muttered low under his breath as he tried to scrub the holy oil out from under his nails.

"Well you better work faster. We helped them and they found Betty. I mean Sarah. Now the truce is over. It's almost sunrise. I don't know if they'll try anything just yet but you never know." Tory hissed as she opened the water bottle and poured half of it onto her uninjured hand.

"I packed extra just incase they try to dump us on the way back. But something tells me that they'll make their move tomorrow night." Edgar squinted as he tried to spot David's retreating form in the darkness.

"Well we're going to make ours sooner. We know where they sleep and come sun-up we are going to dust their sorry asses. I'm not taking any chances around David. That guy gives me a serious case of the creeps." Tory wiped her wet hand on her shirt before she readjusted the make-shift bandaged on her right hand.

"Fine by me. Alan's gone back to the base to get everything we have so we should be set by the time these guys are coma bound."

Edgar quickly shook his hands and began to shove everything back into his backpack as fast as possible. As much as he disliked riding with vampires, he did not feel comfortable being left alone in the middle of nowhere beside a car that had an unconscious one imprisoned in the trunk.

A sudden wave of lightheadedness came over Tory like a bolt out of the blue. One moment she was perfectly fine and the next she felt like she was floating.

"Hey, you okay?" Edgar asked as he shouldered his pack and grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Huh? Yeah...yeah I'm fine. Just tired." Tory shook her head to try to clear it. Edgar did not look convinced. "Hey, give me a break. It's been a long day."

"Well if it happens again, let me know. These vampires could be trying to mess with our minds." Edgar warned her before they set off in the direction of the others.

Deep down inside, on an instinctual level, Tory knew that it was was not mind games that had her nervous.

When the two finally made their way back to where the motorcycles were parked, the vampires were already mounted and ready to go. Sarah was still out cold and was settled in front of David so that he could steer while keeping a hold of her.

"Took you guys long enough." Paul snorted as he sat back on his bike and drummed is fingers against the leather seat, tapping out a Ramones baseline that was chugging along in his head.

Edgar swallowed a response as he gingerly climbed onto the back of Marko's bike. The night before the guy had almost killed his brother and now Edgar found himself hanging onto him for dear life. Talk about a sick sense of irony but there was nothing to be done. He just had to grit his teeth and bare it like a man. He had to remind himself what would Rambo do?

Paul grinned that cheeky wolfish grin of his and scooted forward when Tory swung her leg over the back of his bike. He did not even bother trying to hide the fact that he was enjoying this.

"Don't think this changes anything." Tory commented quietly as she glanced over at Sarah. Her gut was telling her that something was wrong with all this. Something was not being said. She was probably right because her gut was never wrong. She just wished she knew what the heck it was that had her teeth on edge.

Without a word David keyed the ignition and kicked his bike to life. The others followed suit and when he sped off onto the highway Marko was close behind. Paul took him time in bringing up the rear.

You don't fool me.

Tory tightened her hold on Paul when he increased his speed and swerved into the oncoming lane for the hell of it. If Ian had been there he would have lost his mind but secretly Tory found riding shotgun to a vampire was one hell of a speed trip. She knew she was playing with fire but then again she was a pyromaniac.

This felt good. Maybe a little too good.