Riding through the night had given her time to think, she had always loved being on the back of a bike and tonight it was exactly where she needed to be. Looking behind her and seeing Paul and Dwayne weaving in and out of traffic and Marko close behind David, she felt like she was in a dream or reliving a long ago memory. In a strange way she felt part of them, like she belonged with them and she wondered if that was because she had now killed and she was one of them. Then she thought of Laddie, the kid David had brought back to the cave one night and how cute and innocent he was before David had given him some of his 'wine'. He thought it was funny and a way to get Star to change. She was the one who had saved him from all this, had got him away and back to a normal life, then within weeks of David coming back she was the one to kill him. Tears fell from her eyes over the boy and she was grateful David couldn't see them, she was so despondent over her life, she had no idea what she was going to do now and she actually began to think of giving up. She really only had two choices left, she could either give in to David and embrace what she now was or she could end it all and she didn't even know how a vampire committed suicide. Again, David had won. They arrived into the town of Bakersfield at about 5am and Star wondered where David would make them sleep today and to her surprise he rode deep in the city and found a small hotel nestled in a dark spot and he parked his bike.
Dwayne was nominated to pay for a room and in turn provided a nice distraction for the girl at the reception, enough of a distraction that she disappeared with him to show him to his room leaving the desk unattended and the keys available to the rest of the group to get a free room each undetected. David had taken to holding on to Star and he pulled her with him into his room, she really wanted her own room but there was no way he was going to allow that right now. Walking down the hallway, she realised she could go and have a long hot shower and she became almost excited at the prospect and verred straight for the bathroom once the door was open. The bathroom was small and pokey but she didn't care, there were fresh towels and a lock on the door. The water pressure wasn't great but the temperature was perfect so she was happy. She had no idea how long she'd been in there but the water became luke warm and she decided she should get out and she made sure she got fully dressed before she left the bathroom, she wasn't going to be his puppet this time.
Star stepped out of the bathroom and spotted a small couch on the other side of the small room and walked over towards it, she was not going to sit on the bed with him, that had meant nothing but trouble up until now. She didn't understand how he did this to her every time, it was like he knew all her weaknesses and exploited them every chance he got. David began smoking a joint and he sat there looking at her and it made her nervous, like he was peering into her soul.
'Come here.' She knew it was futile to resist him despite the internal dialogue she had just had with herself and she sat at the end of the bed. He held out the joint to her and she declined, she felt weak enough to his charms let alone being stoned. 'It will make you feel better about everything.' She internally agreed with his sentiment but again she shook her head. 'It will make me feel better.' This comment threw her a bit, what was he feeling upset about? The Police finding Alan? David never let anything really bother him. She looked at him closely and saw a tinge of uneasiness and unpredictability about him and that gave her an air of fear so she took the joint from him and inhaled sharply. 'Have another.' She didn't want another but he was pushing so she did what she was told. Passing it back to him he latched onto her wrist and held her and she froze, a bolt of panic seared through her body and she tried to pull away. Her eyes were locked by his and she was unable to move. Glinting yellow, his eyes were boring into her and he spoke to her in his velvet tones. 'Come to me Star.' She could feel herself falling under his spell as she climbed on top of him, her heart hurting as it beat in her chest. She felt his hand on her neck but she couldn't break the eye contact she had with him and she tried so hard to not be pulled down but once his lips met hers, she buckled and relaxed. Again, she was his girl to do with as he pleased.
Star was in an old styled bar with an all wooden interior. A wooden bar top with wooden tables, wooden chairs and wooden wall panelling. Everything was wooden and Star was behind a bar area with five other people in front of her. Someone passed her a joint and she smoked it, but she didn't want to be caught with it. She looked at one of the men in the bar and he had a red shirt on.
'Why did you do that?' The voice spoke to her and sounded like it was muffled or far away. 'Why would you do that to me?' The man asked again and she looked up and it was Laddie. She didn't know what to say and felt hopeless. She looked again at the shirt and saw it wasn't red fabric, it was stained with blood. She looked back up to him and she began crying as she spoke.
'I'm so sorry, I didn't…'
'You shouldn't smoke that, it makes you too available to him.'
Star awoke early, with a fright, and despite be revoltingly tired, she hadn't slept properly and felt terrible. David had slept next to her but he hadn't held her like before and she was able to sit up without disturbing him. She looked around the dank cold room feeling guilty and trapped. Her thoughts had been tormenting her for hours and now she was having more dreams. She thought the dreams may have stopped now she had turned, but apparently not. She wondered if all the boys had these dreams every night and she looked over at David but he seemed to sleep soundly and she studied his face as he slept. Again he had a youthful innocent look about him, he looked like the man she had fallen in love with, not the monster who had led her to kill Laddie as a punishment. But they were one and the same person and she had to remember that right now.
She turned on the TV to distract her from the noise in her head and began flicking through the channels when she flicked it to the local news and the story they were reporting on made her blood clog in her veins and made it hard for her to breathe. She could barely believe what she was hearing, scientists were perplexed by the sample of blood found at the murder scene of Alan Frog and they were conducting genome testing to ascertain where this blood came from. Oh, God, they had her DNA. David was going to be furious once he found out. She had broken one of his cardinal rules and that usually meant death or some kind or banishment. She became scared and the news reported continued onto the next story and she didn't pay too much attention as she was thinking about the consequences and what this would mean for her until the news reporter mentioned a name that changed everything. A man had been found in the woods near death. He'd been taken to San Francisco hospital in a critical condition. His name was Gabriel Thompson. Laddie. Laddie was alive. She hadn't killed him and she hadn't turned! Her heart surged but was crushed just as quick when David sat up from his slumber and stared at the TV then at her with fire in his eyes and she could feel he was ready to end her. The atmosphere was like ice and she froze accordingly waiting for the reaction from the beast but instead he rose and left the room. She sat there shocked and heard David wake the boys up but she could already feel the glimmer of hope ignite inside her and she put her shoes on. She heard a large bang and he reappeared shortly after.
'We're leaving.' He dismissed any form of response from her even though she didn't offer one and she put her jacket on and left the room only to be grabbed roughly by him and dragged outside. 'Get on.' He sat on his bike and she stood back. 'NOW.' His order made her jump and she climbed on behind him and he gunned his bike to hurry along the rest of the boys. David didn't wait for them to get ready and bolted out of Bakersfield immediately leaving the boys trailing behind him. Star was forced to hang on to David for dear life as he rode recklessly through traffic, running red lights and ignoring any kind of road rules right until they reached the turn off towards Nopah then he snaked up the road and past the parking lot to a small area inside the range and he finally parked up. The boys arrived shortly after and all quit their engines and dismounted their bikes, looking uncertainly at each other. 'When I gave you the gift of immortality, I told you there were rules you had to abide by to maintain not only your anonymity, but all of our security.' Star watched silently as he addressed the boys and it felt to her like the calm before the storm. 'They are simple rules to not draw any attention to us and I thought you all knew them well. We live in the shadows and don't make relationships no matter what happens to us, we live off the radar without creating records or paper trails. And we don't leave our kills out for anyone to find, especially in this century.' Her eyes widened as she witnessed David launch at Dwayne, growling with his hand tight around his throat before screaming at him and throwing him painfully over at a nearby tree. He then turned on Paul and Marko creating welts and puncture wounds as he spoke to them. 'And while I'm at it, you two left a body out AND let a witness go. Witnesses don't live, especially when we have killed his family member and that witness has tried to kill us once already. You fuckwits have been fatally sloppy and now we have a massive mess to avoid.' If this was what he was going to do to his boys, she was surely going to be hurt if not killed now and she felt isolated and very scared and alone. David then dropped the men and turned to her and she had never seen such vile emanating from him before in her life and she was terrified. 'And everything is your fault.' She stood in front of him and waited for the hit.