AN: I do not own The Lost Boys.

Ch. 6 - Meeting Mr. VideoMax Part Tri

Max was in heaven as he and Lucy partook of their meal. Lucy was an absolute vision. The beast inside of him was purring in delight. It would finally have the companion he wanted. Lucy would be his and nothing would stand in his way. She was a very nurturing mother. Just what he wanted. A doting wife and a nurturing mother. She spoke avidly about her own children. All the escapades her eldest three got up to. Her youngest was still very childlike and needed a father's guidance. Mike, Lucinda, and Athena were very independent and ready for the world. Apparently when it came to young Samuel, his father, Lucy's ex-husband, practically turned a blind eye to the boy. Putting no claim to the boy other than he looked just like him. Lucy said Sam was a very sensitive boy with an artistic mind. His father saw that as weak and feminine. Michael was her mature boy and would do anything to help her make ends meet. Then there was her girls. Twins, yet were as different as daylight and dark. Both quite mature and independent. Lucinda was quite the grease monkey while Athena was into her books. Lucinda was more vocal while Athena observed and then would strike. He learned that Athena was into her white witchcraft, read palms and tarot. The twins were very protective of each other. But it was Athena that concerned him. She knew what he was and that made her a liability. He did not want to kill Lucy's daughter, he would try to speak to her but if she would not obey he would have David dispose of her.

As sweet Lucy prattled on, answering his questions in full detail, unsuspecting that she was giving a hidden monster information. That she was creating a pitfall for herself and her family. In her naivety of a different world than her own, she could not be blamed for it really, she was putting her family in danger. A danger if they did not comply to the monsters wishes.

(Lu, Dwayne, and Paul)

Athena's tarot reading was replaying over and over in Lucinda's head. She really liked both Paul and Dwayne. But could she really look past them being vampires? Closing her emerald eyes, she took a long deep breath. She needed to try. She needed to listen. A feeling, an instinct told her to at least listen.

"Alright. Talk. How did this happen?" she asked, "I know nothing about vampires other than what was in Dracula."

A bitter laugh came from her fun loving Paul. Dwayne was silent as he always was. Lucinda turned to them. The devastation in Paul's blue eyes made her want to hug and comfort him. She did not move towards him though. Dwayne moved with a loud sigh. He ran his hand through his long mane.

"It was different for us all. But the only thing that was the same was this life was forced onto us." Dwayne answered.

"Yeah. I never wanted this life. I was a hippy. Enjoying my drugs and Woodstock. Make love, not war, and all that." Paul explained with a peace sign, "I was being drafted. My mother told me to hit the road, hide. I did as I was told. All I ever had was my Ma and my little sister, Callista. I was everything to her. I had been on the run for almost a month when I was turned. Max had spotted me when I drifted through the town that he had currently set up shop in. I was hungry. And he just happened to own the small restaurant that was open at the time I was drifting through. I had no money but offered to wash dishes and clean the diner for the night in exchange for a meal and a bunk. Max thralled me then. Got me to spill my guts about everything. He agreed to me cleaning up in exchange for food and shelter for the night. When I had finished up for the night and was just going to toss out the trash, Max bit me. I woke up three days later as a half vampire. I was crazed in bloodlust. Max took me to my mother's house and turned me loose. When I finally had my wits about me again I woke to find my mother and sister dead on my lap, their blood all over me. And I have lived with that nightmare ever since."

Paul's blue eyes were now yellow, tears streamed down his face. Max was so cruel. Lucinda was in tears. Without any hesitation she wrapped her arms around Paul. He was hurting and she felt his pain.

"Mine story is about the same. Paul is the youngest out of us. Him being changed shortly before Vietnam War. I was changed in the 1800's. I was a warrior in my tribe. The Government was rounding us all up to put us on reservations. I was wounded in the skirmish, trying to protect the women and children from the soldiers. I was gravelly wounded. It was snowing, it was so cold. I could feel my life slipping from me. Just as my vision was dimming I vaguely recollect Max, in a soldiers uniform, standing over me. I felt a dull pain in the side of my neck then nothing. My next memory is waking up in the middle of the reservation my tribe was moved to. My tribesmen all around me, soldiers dead, my mother beside me. My pregnant wife was at my feet, pale, lifeless. Max was standing in front of me. He told me what I was and that I was his son now. I was so angry. I felt like I was going to explode. But I couldn't attack him. The sire bond keeps us in check. He brought me there to finish my transition and to make sure I had nowhere else to go to." Dwayne finished.

Lucinda was sobbing. They had been so hurt. Been tortured to this day by Max. The memories of their families lost to their own hands in their madness. But it was ultimately Max's fault. All of this could have been avoided if Max had just left them alone. Let them die when it was their time or had just let them live their lives. Dwayne would have died on that field but his family would have lived on. Paul could be a grandfather by now with his grandchildren at his feet. What about Marko and David? What did Max take from them?

"Let's go back to the other's." Lucinda said holding one of each of their hands.

She was going to give them a chance. A chance they never got to have.

(Mike, Star and Laddie)

"Vampires are not real." Mike said.

"I wish that was true." Star said sadly.

Little Laddie looked at Michael, his little brown eyes flashed yellow. He wanted to go home. He wanted his mother. But knew he could not as long as he was a half vampire. Star cared for him the best she could.

"Whaaaa?" Mike gasped out.

"I never wanted to be this way." Star began, "Max did this to me. He decided he wanted a daughter. He took me from my family. We were travelling through the region to visit kinfolk in Napa. My mother's people are gypsy's. We move from town to town. We never made it up there. Our car broke down here in Santa Carla. My father rented us a motel room. I went to rent a couple of movies from the video store for the night. Max was there. It was a very slow night. He talked to me. David said it is a thrall that he used on me to spill everything about myself. I was very unhappy to be moving again. I just wanted to finish high school and have friends. I stayed on the boardwalk after I took the movies back to our room. When the walk was shutting down for the night Max attacked me. He bit me. He took me to his house and put me in the basement. I don't remember much after that. The next I knew I was cradling my mother's lifeless body, her blood running down my face. Max then threw me to the boys. He took Laddie from his family to keep me in line. There was nothing else he could do that would make me stay in line."

Star's chocolate brown eyes shimmered with tears threatening to spill over. There was no lie in her eyes. Mike did not believe in the supernatural but with what Star and Laddie were telling him, his gut told him that yes it was all true.

"Come on. Let's go meet up with the other's. We need to talk." Mike said and wrapped his arm around Star thin shoulders.

(All together)

Lucinda, Dwayne and Paul made their way back over to where they had left Athena and the boys. Athena and the boys were with Star, Laddie and Mike. Lucinda stared at the curly haired girl. She had forgotten all about her and Laddie. Were they vampires too? Did Max do to them that he had done to Paul and Dwayne? Mike looked up suddenly in their direction. His face was grim. That told Lucinda all she needed to know. He knew about vampires now too.

"Not here. Let's go to the cave." David said before anyone could begin conversation.

Without any lip everyone meandered over to their bikes. Star got on with Michael. Laddie behind Dwayne. Lucinda with Paul. Athena behind David and Marko bringing up the rear. As they were riding through they saw The Frog brothers glaring out at them from their comic store. The group didn't pay them any mind.

The ride to the cave was somber. Usually the boys would have whopped and hollered but not this time. Everything was too important right now. They parked quickly and made their way carefully down the rickety stairs to the mouth of the cave. Marko run ahead and lit barrels for the humans to be able to see. The girls and Mike marveled at the cave. It was neat. It looked like an old hotel.

"You're correct in the assumption that this is an old hotel." David said, "Used to be the hottest hotel back in the day. When the big quake of '26 hit this place nosedived right into the crack."

"Yeah, we got this old place." Marko said sourly, "It is where I was changed."

"Here babe?" Athena asked and held Marko's hand.

"Yeah. I was born in 1908 in Sacramento. I met my parents, my brothers, and my sister here at the train station. I had just graduated from the military academy my father sent me to. I grew up wealthy and wanted for nothing but my freedom. I was supposed to go do my tour of duty about a month after my graduation. That never happened. We were here about three days when I first met Max. He was a wealthy businessman that my father knew. Did business with for the stock market. I do not know what made Max choose me but two days after I met him he attacked me. The timing was awful. No sooner did he begin my transition did the quake hit. I vaguely remember my little sister screaming and Max dragged me away, leaving my family to die."

Athena cried for Marko. She hurt for him. Her very soul ached. Max wanted companions so bad that he hurt them badly to keep them with him. Athena looked over at David, her eyes almost begging him to tell his own story.

"I am the eldest out of all of us. I was born in 1776, just as the American Revolution ended. My family was wealthy and plantation owners in Georgia. By the time I was 18 I was a man. By 20 I was a husband and father of two small boys. I had a plantation of my own. Then one day after church, my wife and I visited her family. That is how I met Max. He worked for my wife's father. He traded slaves for him. Nobody even noticed that they never saw him except in the very early morning hours or late in the evening. My mother-in-law pleaded with us to stay the night so she could spend more time with her grandchildren. I was having a glass of brandy with my father-in-law when Max returned to the estate. He had a whole dozen new slaves with him. It was one of the slaves that brought on this turn of events. She suddenly started shouting out that Max was an Adze. A blood sucking demon. She was laughed at. Then she stepped up and slit her own throat with a knife she had hidden in her skirts. Max's face changed in that instant. The slaves screamed and tried to run. He slaughtered them in the blink of an eye. Then turned on us. He killed my father-in-law and thought he had killed me. The house was set ablaze. My family was still inside. Max came back to toss us in the fire. He found me still alive. He decided to change me instead of letting me die." David relived his past.

Athena pulled her vampire lover into her arms. She poured her love into him. He had everything taken from him. He wife, his children, his life. Everything.

"Max needs to be stopped." Mike said suddenly breaking the tension in the air.

"Yes he does." was the resounding chorus.

AN: That's the end of the Meeting Mr. VideoMax chapters.