Sorry I didn't update last weekend, guys. I was really busy!
Please enjoy this chapter!
"What'cha doing here, Davey?" Paul said with a smirk as he and Dwayne returned to the cavern to find me sifting through their belongings. "You got a death wish or something? You know as soon as Zach finds y-"
"Zachary is dead, Paul." I said matter-of-factly. I tossed aside the audio cassettes I'd been browsing through and turned to face the two. "Max killed him, along with Marcy."
Paul's face fell and I couldn't tell if he was confused or bothered by my information. Then he asked the obvious next question. "What about Tawny?"
"Don't you worry about her." I warned. "She's no longer a concern for either of you."
"Why are you here, David?" Dwayne said quietly.
I shrugged and smiled. "I don't really know. I mean, I can't go home to my parents. I refuse to stay with Max. Zachary killed the one person in this city that I probably could have lived with. The sun is going to come up in a while and I needed somewhere to go."
"Did you finally feed?" Paul asked curiously. "Like, kill a person?"
I shrugged once again and started to walk around the huge cavern. "You know, this actually is a pretty sweet set up. It could use a little redecorating. Zach's tastes were nearly as old as he was. I like your guys' posters though." I continued around, ignoring the confused looks Paul and Dwayne were both giving me. "All in all, it's not bad."
"Are you trying to say you wanna stay?" Paul asked as he stepped toward me.
"The way I see it is like this…" I said as I dropped my pillow case of belongings next to the remnants of the old water fountain. "I need a place to stay, you guys need a new leader. I think we can help each other out."
"What makes you think we need a leader?" Paul said, automatically taking offense. "Just because Zach is dead doesn't mean-"
"Actually, that's exactly what it means. See, you might think I don't know you guys all too well but I've already got you figured out. Now, I'm not saying you're dumb, Paul. But you're definitely not the type to think things through. You're impulsive and reckless. And Dwayne, you seem smart. Reserved. But way too reserved. You're not the type to go out on a limb and take chances. Zachary was somewhere in the middle. He was smart and he thought things through but he wasn't afraid to go out and take what he wanted either."
"And you think you're like Zach?" Paul said with a scoff.
"Well, a bit. I mean, I'm a lot more likely to do something stupid but I do think things through. I'm not afraid to take action though." I shrugged and smiled at the two. "The way I see it, I'm the perfect candidate."
"We're not exactly looking for someone to replace him." Paul replied. "We've been vampires a while. We can manage on our own."
"I'm not saying you can't." I said with a shrug. "I'm just saying that if you plan to continue on with what Zach wanted, you're going to have a hard time. Max isn't a push over and he's not going to sit back and let you try and bring him down."
"Then what do you suggest we do about Max?" Dwayne said, taking a step forward. "Zach was right. Max needs to be stopped. I don't want to be a part of his family."
"Yeah, neither do I." Paul said, crossing his arms. "I wanna have fun and party. To hell with his family."
"Well that's convenient because I don't want to be a part of his family either. It seemed like a nice idea at first but just look what's happened. He's killed your mothers. Marcy is dead, along with who knows how many other women. Obviously it's not working out. But we can't exactly stop Max either. None of us stand a chance against him. I mean, Zach is in pieces on the floor of his garage." I said with a small sigh. "That could've been me. That could've been any one of us."
"Then what are we going to do? We can't be free if he's still alive." Paul argued.
"Who said? Zach? Look, just because Max is alive and still the head vampire, that doesn't mean we have to hang around him or do what he says. We can still be separate from him. We don't have to kill him to be independent from him. We can do whatever the hell we want and avoid him. Or better yet, rub it in his face that he can't control us. Maybe then he'll get the picture that his family isn't going to work out and he'll just give up. Besides, we need to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't find a Matriarch. Mess up his plans if he have to."
"That's stupid." Paul said with a snort and a roll of his eyes.
"Do you have a better idea?" Dwayne said as he turned to look at Paul. "There's safety in numbers. Zach always said that. We could use David around with us. And I think it's important that we try to stop Max in any way we can. The last thing we need is him solidifying his family and trying to pull us back into it. Or worse, disposing of us altogether."
Paul grumbled under his breath and looked away from both of us. "Fine, whatever. He can stay but I'm not following his orders."
"I don't want to order you around." I said with a chuckle. "Look, maybe leader wasn't the best word. I mean more like the brains of the operation."
"And what operation would that be?" Paul asked, scoffing even louder than before.
"The operation of having fun, being young and bugging the crap out of Max! Look, we're gonna be young forever. We need to take advantage of that. But we also have to show Max that we're not afraid of him and that he can't control us. We're gonna run this goddamned town and we're not going to let anybody stop us! Now are you with me, or not?"
Paul and Dwayne looked at each other quietly a moment before they both turned to look back at me. Dwayne nodded slowly. "Alright."
Paul rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "Yeah, fine. Whatever."
"Perfect."