Nothing better than home
The fight is over and the Santa Carla vampires are destroyed. But are they really? Who survived and who didn't? Will there ever be a pack of vampires again, with the hunters around? Would vampires really care? And may it be that some of them meet again?
I don't own the Lost Boys or any of its original characters. I only own my OC's and situations I'll put them into.
Many thanks to the dear people who follow and favor my story. Comments are welcome.
Chapter 13: Dangerous curiosity
Hope just could not forget what she had seen in the mirror in her grandmother's house. It was her own face, but it was distorted, disfigured, a scary visage. Her pupils were yellow, blood-rimmed and she had catches like a predator. Her cheekbones were higher than usual and poked out.
She wanted to kill her grandmother during this altercation. Hope was so angry at Ines because of this silly lie about the young woman's real mother. But when her eyes fell in the mirror, and she saw that dreadful visage, she was so shocked that she flew out of the house and did not return.
The young woman kept away from other people out of fear of doing something stupid and unpardonable. She constantly felt the need to look in each mirror to make sure that her face looked normal.
It took several weeks before she dared to trust herself again, then she finally got in touch with Father Michael. She could not hide forever, it was her job to help people in need, and she had to pay bills.
She had not failed to notice that Father Michael reacted strangely when she entered his office. She almost felt that he knew she was a little different than other people.
Well, she was different indeed. She has not been able to leave home during the day for many years. Her sun allergy was terrible, one day she just tried it out and put her hand out through the closed curtain. This was not a very smart idea, because it burned instantly and Hope took almost two weeks before the sunburn was completely healed.
Other people would judge her, because her breakfast, which she usually ate in the early evening, was mostly animal blood. Usually, it was possible to get blood from a butcher, of course, for a lot of money.
She couldn't refuse to drink blood, because of the terrible stomach cramps and certainly, she would sooner or later attack people. The young woman could not explain why she had to drink blood and found it self-defiant, but she had no choice.
It was also bad for the young woman that other people's heartbeats were loud to her, like a timpani concert, and luckily, over time, she had learned to fade out the sound.
It could happen that she could not buy blood, so Hope had no choice but to hunt an animal in the forest, it did not matter what kind. She sucked the blood out of her prey and was horribly ashamed of it because she actually loved animals.
But as if the sun allergy and the need to drink blood were not enough, her face changed every time she became very angry in that predator-like visage.
It also happened that she jumped out of a dream and floated directly under her ceiling. Since she had no control over it, she simply fell to the floor and got bruises. Hope did everything to ensure that no one would ever know about these things, so she had no private contacts.
During their first meeting, Father Michael informed Hope about the situation in the city. Father Michael explained that Santa Carla was a paradise for the runaways, as the local police were not really interested in looking for them.
The priest knew that a lot of the cops were werewolves. He had dealt with them several times when angry parents came to town looking for their missing children.
But the wolves had threatened Michael's family, so he preferred to remain silent. The young people who took refuge in the city were easy prey for these monsters because nobody here knew them.
Of course, he could not tell the young social worker. People didn't want to believe that vampires and werewolves actually existed. In any case, the priest wondered how long Hope would do this job.
She was not the first social worker to come to the city, and would certainly not be the last one. Her predecessors had never lasted more than a year, and those who were more persistent eventually disappeared. The priest was sure the werewolves were behind it, but of course, he had no evidence for that.
Vampires did not exist in the city since Max's pack was destroyed. The young woman seemed strange to Michael, something was wrong with her. And her face reminded the priest of someone, but to whom, he could not tell.
Well, maybe they had met at one of the many training sessions that were essential for working with homeless people. He would not have much to do with her anyway, she stored her things here, which she would put into her suitcase every evening and then gave it to the homeless children.
Like every night, Hope parked her small, white Ford in front of the institution and filled her trolley in the kitchen. That night, she wanted to distribute sparkling water and long-lasting foods to the young people. The flyers pointing out Father Michaels place, she put in her brown leather bag.
Before she would go home in the early morning, she would meet with a group of five teenagers. She had met the kids for the first time a few days earlier and promised them the food.
She hoped that the group with whom she had arranged a meeting near the stairs to the beach appeared. Like most homeless teenagers, they were very distrustful of her and it was important for the work of the social worker to gain the trust of the kids.
After all, Hope had learned their names and something about the background that had led the kids to run away from home. All five came from broken families and there was violence against them in the game.
The five were not as brave as many of the other homeless, they wanted to go through life without thefts and drugs. All five dreamed of graduating from school someday and to have a reasonable education.
All five actually had a job, but only for two to five hours a week. It was clear that it could not be used to finance a flat, and it was not really enough to eat. Hope hoped to get the five off the road with the help of Father Michael. The young people slept in an abandoned house, electricity and running hot water were not there of course.
Hope was glad when she actually discovered the group at the agreed meeting place. "Hi, I'm glad you are here," she greeted the kids. "We are grateful for any help we receive," answered one of the girls. The others nodded in agreement.
"It's getting harder," one of the boys explained. "Many others join gangs and threaten us." Hope looked at the young people sadly, it was really a shame that she could not do more.
"We would like to talk to the priest," said one of the other boys. "Do you have the flyers from his institution with you?" The kids looked at the social worker with a smile.
"Here they are," Hope answered smiling as she handed each one a flyer. "You better go right away when it opens!" The five kids nodded and Hope opened her suitcase.
"I have water, sausage, and canned soup," she explained. "Do you have the opportunity to heat something?" The five nodded. "We have a small gas cooker, that will work," replied one of the girls.
Hope nodded. "You're careful with that, I hope," she finally said, raising her eyebrows. The five nodded. "Promise," they said.
The young woman suddenly had the feeling of being watched and turned to the stairs. There were two dark-clad figures wearing sunglasses. The statue of the two revealed that they were men.
They were about six feet tall and well built. The wind blew a scent of lavender, leather, and engine oil to Hope. Whoever these men were, this scent was very inviting to the young woman.
For some reason, these men's eyes made Hope shudder. She looked at them for a moment, then turned back to the teenagers. After distributing the contents of her trolley to the five, she reminded the priest once more. She went back and left her suitcase in the garage, then got into her car and drove home.
For three nights she was off from her job, and that was a good thing. None of the blood she had bought was left and she couldn't get any at the time. That meant she had to hunt, and she dreaded it. She hated that bloodthirst so much, but it did not help.
The next evening, she woke up sweaty from a nightmare. She had seen that big, blond creature again, but she was not afraid of it. Something terrible had happened to this creature, and she heard that terrible, tortured cry that scared her.
Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe, and she had terrible stomach cramps of hunger. Disconcerted, she slipped into her bathroom and looked in the mirror when she felt something pointedly penetrate her lower lip and she tasted blood.
When she saw her face, or better, the scary visage, she broke down crying. Every time that happened, she hated her life and would happily end it. However, she lacked the courage to do so, because she had tried once before, and one day, after almost killing her grandmother, she had cut her wrists open. However, the wound healed immediately and she just needed more blood. She had felt so alone and unloved that day that she had seen no other way out.
When she had calmed down, she put on her dark parka, pulled on her hood and put on her sunglasses, then left the house. The young woman lived near a forest, it only took a few minutes to get there.
One of the forest roads at the opposite end of the forest led up to the cliffs, where, hidden in a cave, was the sunken hotel. Of course, Hope did not know that, because she did not know the city well enough.
She had heard the rumors about the place, but where it was she did not know and she did not care. She had enough trouble keeping in check the monster that lived inside her.
Terrible guilt tormented the young woman when she thought of the poor animal that she would kill, but she had no choice. To kill a human being would be even worse.
This time she was lucky. She had seen a pack of wolves about to chase a stag. One of the wolves had been injured and left to die. The young woman released him from his grief, it would otherwise probably have slowly gone to the bottom. The animal made no defense and Hope stroked his coat while she drank from him.
Hope sat for a while beside the dead animal, as the gout of lavender, leather, and motor oil rose in her nostrils, it was weak, but irresistible to the young woman.
She stood up and instinctively followed the scent, and after a short walk, she stood in the shadow of the forest on top of the cliffs, not far from the staircase that had once led to the sunken hotel.
On the other side sat two long-haired men. One was blond and the other dark-haired. The men wore jeans and boots. The torso of the brunette man was undressed, his shirt and a leather jacket lay behind him. His friend was about to pull his dark shirt over his head when he was done, he threw it carelessly behind him and it landed next to his jacket.
The faces of the men Hope could not recognize in the darkness. The two were accompanied by a woman, she had long blond hair and was rather plump. She seemed a bit unsure and sat down between the men as the blonde pointed to the place between his friend and himself.
Then the blonde man got up, took his jacket and searched the pockets. After finding what he was looking for, he went to a pile of wood piled up in front of the three and lit it. The brunette man threw some more wood into the flames and it made a cozy campfire.
The blond man took the six-pack that stood next to him and opened it, then he handed the woman and his friend a beer. The dark-haired man took his jacket and took something out of one of the pockets, it had to be a joint because after he had lit this, it smelled of weed.
Hope retired a little further into the shadows, but she could not manage to leave. As the blond man handed the joint to the woman, Hope briefly took her eyes off the scene and cautiously backed away.
She was about to turn around and leave when the woman sitting with the men began screaming hysterically. When Hope saw the blond man's face, that she could see well in the firelight, she realized why the woman was screaming. His face was distorted, his cheekbones poked out, his pupils were yellow and he had fangs.
The young woman held her hands over her mouth so as not to scream herself. She stood rooted to the spot, watching helplessly as both men attacked the woman. The smell of the woman's blood penetrated her nose, and she felt her own catches dig into her lower lip.
Hope was shocked by the sight of it, but it excited her and she felt her own hunger again. Her lip was bleeding now, and as she licked the blood, the dark-haired man lifted his head and sniffed the air.
He glanced directly in Hope's direction and she saw the woman's blood dripping from his chin. He jumped up and Hope took a few steps back without taking her eyes off him. His friend also raised his head and sniffed. Hope saw that he was holding back the brunette man, then she ran away without looking back.
She literally flew through the forest, and even though she was unaware, she was actually flying. It only took a few minutes to reach the house where her apartment was located.
With trembling hands, she unlocked the door and locked it from the inside. Hope sat down on the couch without turning on the light. She was ashamed, because a few minutes ago she had seen two men kill a woman, but instead of helping her, she had just run away.
Hope had always thought she was a freak, a whim of nature, albeit a very bad one. But now she knew there were others who were just like her. The scene on the cliffs had aroused her rather than frightened her. She was wet between her legs and was ashamed of it.
Hope was completely unaware of this feeling, for out of mistrust of herself she had never let anyone close enough to intimacy. Now Hope's curiosity awoke, she wanted to find out who the men were, especially what they were.
Only then could she find out what she was. The next evening, as soon as it got dark, she made her way to the cliffs. She was very aware that she was in great danger, but she pushed that thought aside.
When she reached the cliffs, she hesitated a while and stopped in the shade of the trees. Then, resolutely, she went to the spot where the two men had sat with the woman by the fire. Hope could not detect anything conspicuous.
She stepped to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the sea. Total darkness was down there and she looked over at the lights of the boardwalk, it was a beautiful view.
She looked down again. There was a light now, that had not been there before. Suddenly she was scared and she just wanted to go home. Before she could turn around, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye that came up from the light and she felt a draft of air behind her. Then someone pulled her hood off her head.
She wanted to scream, but no sound came from her open mouth. Hope had never felt such a panic. Slowly she turned around, but there was nothing there. Then she heard a soft laugh and turned back to the sea. The blond man stood there, no, he did not stand, he floated over the abyss and grinned at her.
She turned and ran, but by the time she reached the woods, the brunette man stepped out of the shadows, grinning. "Do you want to leave, kid," he asked, and Hope saw his face change.
She turned around and looked for a way out, when she looked back into the forest, he was gone. Completely insecure and in panic, she took a few steps toward the trees. She heard something behind her and looked over her shoulder in the direction of the sound, but there was nothing there.
When she looked at the trees again, the dark-haired man suddenly stood behind her. She wanted to run in the other direction. "Buh," said the blond man, who had appeared out of nowhere. The young woman was trapped between the men. Dejected she sank to her knees, closed her eyes and was sure that she would get killed now.