Sam parked the car farther away than he felt comfortable with. If they ran into trouble, which seemed a given at this point, there was no way they'd be able to make it the car for a quick getaway when they inevitably pissed off a hungry vampire. But at the same time, he knew their one advantage was the element of surprise. Hard to have the element of surprise if they parked in the Widow Johnson's front lawn.
Edgar and Alan made were adamant about going through the back of the house so they circled around the large property until they reached the backyard. The voices they heard made them freeze, fearing they had been caught already. It was Sam who urged them all into the back of a boat house on the far edge of the yard. They appeared to not have been noticed and for a blessed moment they were safe.
"Oh shit!" Alan exclaimed before his brother was clamping a hand over his mouth to stifle him.
Sam quickly followed his startled eyeline, reflexively raising his holy water filled gun in the same direction. He just barely managed to keep himself from screaming in terror at the grisly sight of Star's dead body. The bile rising in his throat helped distract him from making any noise. His eyes watered with the effort of holding back both.
Holy shit! He had never seen a dead body that didn't belong to an already undead vampire. And he had certainly never seen the dead body of someone he knew. He hadn't expected the smell to be so putrid up close...
He tore his eyes away from her cloudy, very dead eyes that were fixed in his direction.
God, who was going to tell Laddie?
"Sam!" Edgar hissed from the other side of the boathouse. "Over here!"
Sam tentatively edged around Star's body over to the Frog brothers. The door was just cracked open enough for them to hear the voices from outside.
What they heard next was shocking.
Mike was possessed! By their mom's vampire ex who had somehow survived That Night!
Jesus, it was like a punch in the gut finding out virtually all of their efforts That Night had been for nothing.
Sam was vaguely listening to the rest of whatever they were talking about so he wasn't entirely how or why the three vampires closest to the boathouse suddenly attacked each other.
Their brawl was savage, reminding Sam much of That Night when his brother faced off with these same vampires.
Edgar declared, "I say we let them duke it out then we take on whoever's left standing."
"I'm going after Mike," was all the warning Sam gave them before he was busting out of the safety of the boathouse towards his brother.
"...Kill each other."
The words were forcibly extracted from David's lungs as though Max had reached down into him and pulled them out with his claws.
He tried to fight the words back down, bar them from leaving his lips, but it was useless.
The memory of Rose's execution was still fresh in his mind and the heartbreaking sight before him was like history repeating itself while he stood by helplessly. He was desperately to tell them to stop, but Max had already given him the order to do no such thing. David was trapped in his own body, unable to do anything but watch as his loved ones hurt each other just as Max wanted.
As equally as he wanted to put a stop to the violence, he also wanted to put a violent end to Max.
"My mistake was keeping you at such a distance. I should have kept my children close. Where I could keep an eye on them," Max told him with Michael's stolen voice.
Where you could keep them from using free will, you mean, David thought grimly.
All he could do was wait for a single second for Max to let his guard down. Make a mistake. Then he could kill this motherfucker once and for all.
The most unexpected thing happened next when Sam Emerson came running out of the boathouse with the Frog brothers hurriedly following him.
"Get out of my brother!" Sam cried, raising a water gun at Max's face.
Max appeared just as taken aback as David. He snapped his fingers and sent a thought to deal with the Frog brothers before he raised two placating hands in surrender. "Now Sam, this isn't what you think…" he started.
Sam did not look convinced in the slightest. "Screw you asshole! You're wearing my brother's body like a suit!"
Edgar and Alan flocked to Sam's left with their own water guns.
"Yeah! What is this? Invasion of the Body Snatchers?" Alan cut in.
"Exactly! You're supposed to be a vampire dammit!" Edgar chimed in.
David's eyes slanted with disdain before he reached out with lightning reflexes, batting the water guns out of the Frog brother's hands. The young hunters simultaneously cursed. Sam fumbled with his own water gun as he clumsily pivoted in David's direction but he was too slow. David had grabbed hold of each Frog brother and slammed their heads together, knocking them into unconsciousness.
"Son, please let me explain," Max commanded Sam's attention once more.
Sam's bottom lip trembled as he wildly brandished his toy weapon. "Don't call me that! I'm not your fucking son you creep!"
David had never related to Sam Emerson so hard until that moment.
Max didn't appear phased. He wore Michael's crooked smile with a sharp edge, defiling it in David's eyes. "Not yet you aren't."
Sam's aim wavered. "W-what is that supposed to mean?"
"I'll make you a deal Sam, because I want us to get along."
What deal? David thought to himself, stuck in place. Merely watching this exchange like he was a fucking lawn ornament.
"What deal?" Sam echoed his thoughts.
"I'll let your brother be… if you agree to do one thing."
There it was. That gleam in Michael's eyes was all Max. The gleam that sparkled with triumph, that gloated in his immenient victory. David had almost forgotten how that gleam used to send chills down his spine only now it was a thousand times worse now that he could see it in Michael's fetching eyes. Eyes that David had at one time wanted nothing more than to stare into for hours. For eternity.
"What do you want from me?" Sam asked so quietly, as though he were afraid to ask.
Max smiled predatorily. "All you have to do is drink a little bit of my blood. Right here. Right now. Then I'll let your brother go."
Sam looked like he was about to pull the trigger and shoot burning holy water into Michael's stolen face for a moment. David eagerly awaited for the kid to do it. For someone to finally stand up to this sick fuck.
But then the moment swiftly passed and Sam was lowering his weapon, resigned.
"I'll do it."
NO! David silently raged.
His family were trying to murder each other only a few yards away and this motherfucker was going to get everything he wanted and win.
Max pushed his sleeve up and made a deep cut to Michael's wrist with a claw. He beckoned Sam closer with a hooked finger. The teenager hesitated only once and then he was standing before Max, bringing his bleeding wrist to his mouth. Sam made a few swipes with his tongue, lapping up the blood before he quickly backed away.
Congrats, you little shit, David thought darkly, unable to look away from the sickeningly familiar sight. You just sold your soul to the devil.
Max applauded slowly. "You're making the right decision my b-" he cut himself off before he completed his sentence.
Sam and David each stared at Max in mounting confusion as the expression on his face twisted.
"S-sam! Please!" he suddenly cried. "K-kill me!"
Sam's eyes widened, the hand he was using to wipe away the red streak from the corner of his mouth pausing.
"Mike?"
Michael, his posture stiff as he strained for control, jerked his head in a nod. "Please. You have to kill me Sammy. It's the only way."
Sam glanced at the fallen water gun. It wasn't enough to do the deed and he knew it. "I- I can't do it."
"You're going to turn if you don't." His brother argued. "You have to save yourself. It's already too late for me..."
"He killed Star, Sam," David found himself saying out loud.
Fuck, it felt good to be back in control of himself.
STOP! he sent the command to the other Lost Boys. Stop trying to kill each other! Go find Max's body. It's in the house! End. Him.
Sam's shock at what David said must have surpassed the fact that he had finally spoken by far because he made no move to run. He seemed only slightly startled when Dwayne, Marko, and Paul stopped fighting and suddenly disappeared into the Widow's house.
"David…Please." Michael turned to him, sounding sincere and purely himself. "I know you want to."
He had half a mind to deny him and go after Max with the others out of spite. And yet, the guy was practically serving himself up on a platter. When would he ever come across such a sweet opportunity? But, he needed to stall long enough to give his boys a chance until Max's original body was disposed of.
Until then…
Michael's bottom lip trembled as he looked at his younger brother. His voice wavered. "Sam… tell mom and grandpa and Laddie… I'm sorry."
Stomach turning at the sentimental scene, David chose that moment to strike. He rushed forward in a blur, grabbed a hold of Michael, and dragged him into the boathouse.
David couldn't help but think back to That Night as he slammed Michael into the ground so he rolled into Star's mutilated corpse. That Night, Michael had put up such a fight. They both had. Michael had been fighting to stay alive; fighting to give his family a chance. David had been so full of rage he totally disregarded Max's plan, defying him for probably the first time ever. Even though he was still gutted and hollow from Michael's betrayal and Marko's murder, there was no room for mourning. Instead he was filled with a singular need for revenge.
This night was totally different compared to that night.
Any fight left in Michael was clearly directed inward to keep Max at bay. David almost felt like he was kicking around a man already down. Which, he supposed, he technically was.
Max had broken him. He knew what that was like better than anyone.
Was he being petty when he flattened the side of Michael's face into the concrete floor so he was forced to stare into Star's dead eyes that were inches from his own? Maybe. But fuck all if he wasn't going to make sure he enjoyed having Michael at his mercy.
Michael Emerson had it coming.
"Tell me Michael, was it worth it? Was she worth it?"
David wasn't honestly expecting an answer, but he couldn't deny that he wanted one. Part of him wasn't just buying the others time. He was desperate to hear Michael's reasons for turning on him and the other Lost Boys. This was his last chance to glean whatever information he could and this was Michael's last chance to gain a bit of redemption in David's eyes. Not much. But some. Maybe enough to matter.
"I'm sorry… for everything. If I could go back, I…"
"You what? You'll fight with us instead of against us? I need to fucking hear you say it."
David didn't want to let himself imagine for a moment what life would have been like if Michael had just given in before Star ever got her hands on him. In the wake of That Night, David had learned that witches were real. Magic was real. Hell, fucking time travel was real. It was entirely plausible for all of them to go back before That Night and change everything. And yet, that wasn't what David wanted.
Boss, it's done. Max is done-zo, Marko sent him the thought.
"David…"
God, they way he said his name. A soft pleading sound, and at the same time strong with resignation. It made David's chest feel tight.
"Finish it. End this."
David wondered for a split second what exactly he meant by "this". He knew what he wanted Michael to mean, the foolish, soft part of him anyway. And maybe Michael really did mean the same thing. End this. End us. But that would imply there ever was an "us".
"Goodbye Michael. And if you can still hear me, FUCK YOU, MAX."
In the end, David held Michael's heart in his hand, even if he had to crack open Michael's chest and rip the organ from the gaping cavity to do it.