"...soooooo...are you OK?" Paul asked carefully, watching as Dwayne worked on his umpteenth lap of the cave, "feeling better?"
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Paul choked on a laugh and smothered his grin, crossing his legs on the sofa as Dwayne continued his course. Unlike Dwayne, he'd kept his bloodied clothes on, feeling no real immediate need to change them. Wasn't like he had a love to see safely home. The bloodied knees of his pants stretched uncomfortably, the material had tightened a little as the scarlet liquid had dried.
It had been a stupid question, even he could admit that, but it was so much fun. Paul had never been much of a 'fight temptation' kind of guy and right now Dwayne was a perfectly prime target, "wanna talk about it?"
"No"
"Not even a little?"
"Not even a little" Dwayne confirmed, still pacing.
"Are you happy?"
"Yes"
"You sound pissed"
"I am pissed"
"But you don't wanna talk about it?"
Dwayne shot him a look and Paul carried on, "...she's cute"
"She's beautiful"
Paul grinned, once again murmuring "...soppy fucker" but there was affection in his tone and he smiled warmly at his brother, "you know, you kind of look like a menstrual teen right now"
That stopped Dwayne clear in his tracks and Paul laughed, insistent "you do, dude! Fucking wish I could snap a picture right now, you'd die...God, strong, handsome Dwayne reduced to this.."
"Fuck you" Dwayne snorted a little laugh of his own. Paul was lucky he had that effortless charisma of his. He always seemed to be just on the right side of funny, just on the right side of charming. Always close to but never quite going beyond the line. Dwayne started to move again before catching himself. Paul was right. Rolling his eyes and dropping his body onto the low fountain, he shook his head a little. He knew Paul was right, he knew he was acting like an angsty teen but he couldn't help it.
He was ecstatic that Elizabeth was his but furious that she wasn't, not yet at least.
It was the single most frustrating feeling in the whole-
"-it's going to be so fucking good when you get her..." Paul whistled a little, "I don't want a mate but fuck me if it isn't hot...bet that's gonna be one hell of a fuckin' orga-"
"Jesus, can you not?" Dwayne clenched his fist as Paul winced, "oh yeah. Sorry..."
"It's just so-"
"Hot, I know" Dwayne all but growled.
That didn't even begin to cover it. It was erotic, it was powerful it was so damn intense to know that she was there, waiting for him and only him.
Paul glanced at the entrance to the cave and then looked wickedly at Dwayne, "they're still dealing with Mikey, you definitely have time to rub a quick one out"
"I hate you"
Paul threw his head back and laughed.
He couldn't help it.
Dwayne rubbed his hands over his face with a firm vigor, trying to get the images of Elizabeth out of his mind.
As Paul's laughter died into pleased chuckles, Dwayne groaned.
Marko had left the cave with an angry scowl marring his angelic features almost seconds after Dwayne had finished telling them everything Elizabeth had said about Michael. David had swiftly followed, no doubt to make sure Marko didn't maim the Emerson boy. He was glad for it, glad for their uncompromising support. He didn't trust himself around the boy. Just knowing that he had snapped at Elizabeth, no matter how she tried to dismiss it, made him want to...
He unfurled his fists and stretched his hands before clenching them once more.
He was thankful. It was a good thing his brothers were dealing with it for him.
"Deeeeeep soothing breaths" Paul advised, "like a pregnant woman in the midst of contractions.." his voice had taken on a grating, mocking tone of sympathy, "there we go, there we are..yes, deeeeep breaths"
Well. Two of his brothers.
"You would have made a shit midwife" Dwayne told him in a deadpan.
The blonde seemed to consider it for a moment before wiggling his eyebrows and grinning in a snakelike way, "yeah...but I'd literally be up to my elbows in pussy..which is more than I can say for you right now.."
Paul had made no move to go with either David or Marko or even for a stroll alone. No, he seemed more than content to lounge in the cave, "...why am I stuck here with you?"
"Marko sorts Michael out. David makes sure Marko is a good boy. Paul stays to comfort Dwayne" the energetic blonde explained, as if he was talking to a simpleton.
"You're not comforting me"
"..but I am making you laugh"
"Hardly..."
Paul stretched his back, "wonder what her blood tastes like..."
"I fucking hate you"
Paul laughed and Dwayne slapped his hands across his face once more.
Star gave an almost panicked wail as Marko shoved Michael against the chipped concrete wall lining the beach. He hit it with a light thud, his back and shoulders absorbing the surprisingly light impact. He grunted a little but said nothing, made no reaction, no movement.
He didn't try to defend himself.
He was Marko's puppet. Nothing more. He would accept everything and anything Marko was to do.
She felt sick.
Marko grabbed him hard around his upper arms, the cheap leather of his jacket wrinkling under his touch.
"Stop, Marko! No-" seeing Michael's glassy eyes, his sluggish body propelled her into action. She lunged for Marko, desperately and unthinkingly, but David swooped in and held her wrist, stilling her instantly.
"Don't be stupid, Star"
"You said you wouldn't hurt him" Star plead, turning to David with desperate eyes.
There was no mercy in them, he was cold and unrelenting and he gripped her wrist tightly, so painfully tight.
She whimpered, "please, David-"
"Nobody is hurting him, Star"
God, he was so reasonable. So coldly reasonable.
They had just arrived, almost as if they had appeared out of thin air.
Silent demons come to wreak havoc.
"Listen to me, Mikey" Marko said lowly, slapping the dazed boy on the cheek.
His heavy, glazed eyes met Marko's.
Star whimpered and looked away as David released her wrist.
"You're going to go home. You're going to take a shower, brush your Goddamned teeth and change into your cutesy little pajama set, OK?"
Michael blinked.
"You're going to apologize to your brother and you're definitely going to apologize to your sister..."
Another blink.
"...you're going to spend a wholesome day in your house, spend a not so wholesome evening with Star, fucking in whatever hovel she finds for you both..."
Two blinks.
Star tensed.
"...and you're gonna stop fucking up, Mikey. Keep playing it cool, huh?"
No response.
Marko clenched his jaw as if he was calling upon the very last of his patience, "do you understand?"
Michael nodded.
"Goody for you" Marko took a step back and, without the vampire holding him up, Michael slumped down and into the sand, his leather jacket dragging down the concrete wall as he went.
"Take him home, Star" David instructed icily, leaving the scene with a smooth, predatory grace, his coat dancing a little in the light breeze.
She bit down an hysterical laugh. He was leaving as carelessly as he had arrived, like she was so beneath him..like she and Michael were nothing.
God, she hated him.
"How does he expect me to get him back?" Star asked, a hint of wild desperation in her voice. It was so unfair, so cruel. How was she supposed to play their game when the odds were stacked so high against her? It felt like the boys were determined to punish her, to get in the last of their painful digs and shower her with spitefulness before she could leave.
"You're so incredibly dramatic, you know that Star?" Marko told her, annoyance lacing his voice.
She shook her head. Of course he knew what she was feeling, the thoughts she was thinking.
"We tried everything to make you happy and it wasn't enough..." he picked at his nail with a dangerous ease and Star tensed, looking away, "...you ask us, you beg us to entertain your idea..don't pull that face. It was your idea..'I'll take Michael, I want him...don't hurt him, oh pleaseeee, I'll keep him and his brother away, the girl will be all yours, please, please, David, let me..I can do it...Dwayne, please..'" he mimicked cruelly, "God, and you think we're monsters? You're such a fucking hypocrite...and at the end of all that, what do you know? We're the ones doing all the work...yet here you are..pouting over the unfairness of it all.." he looked at her, though she refused to meet his eyes, "poor Star. Poor little victim..."
"Why are you so cruel?" she asked bitterly.
He barked a hollow laugh, "do you honestly think you're not? You're a lost, little girl, Star. A child in denial. You have the same fucking ruthless streak as the rest of us.."
She shook her head. She was nothing like them, nothing.
She looked down at Michael.
He looked so helpless, slumped there, unconscious in the sand. She had seen what it was like to be manipulated by Marko. She had seen it a million times, the sorry victim would lose all sense of time, of space, of reality..they would be so absorbed in the vampire, in his words. Everything he said would sound like the most wonderful thing, so compelling. Nothing else would matter, just his words. Just him. They would say anything he asked them to, do anything to requested. They would want to, they would need to...and then, when they were released from his spell they wouldn't even remember it...if they were allowed to live, that was.
She glanced away from the cherubic, handsome man, unaware that she had even started to observe him, and looked down at her sleeping love once more.
She did love him. She knew it...
"You make me sick, Marko. All of you do" she said quietly, firmly.
"So you've said"
"I mean it"
"I don't care"
She knew he meant that. His words were true. He really didn't care what she thought, not anymore.
"How does he expect me to get him home?" she asked, wanting to draw their conversation, their meeting to a close.
She didn't want to be around him anymore than he wanted to be around her.
She hated that David had been and gone with such disinterest.
"The same way you got him home last time"
"He could still walk then"
Marko shrugged.
She couldn't fly, not like them. She was a half, and a weak one at that.
"Do you want me to beg you?" she asked, still not meeting his eyes.
Her voice was bitter and hard.
"You really think he's your love? Or just your salvation?" Marko asked coldly, his last parting shot before bending down to lift Michael like a rag doll.
His head lolled dangerously, hitting is chest.
Star looked into the distance as Marko disappeared without another word, high into the night sky, carrying the man she loved as if he was nothing more than a feather.
She moved to sit on the sand.
Love? Or salvation?
Star buried her head in her knees and tried not to cry at the hopelessness she felt...
"I still can't believe you pierced my ear" Michael chuckled, laughing a little as he gingerly touched his newest accessory, "I didn't even remember, Sammy was so pissed..."
"You were kind of insistent" Star replied, sitting on the bench, facing him with her legs dangling over his own, "was he really that angry?"
"Oh yeah. Furious..it's OK though..he'll get over it.."
Her hands moved to touch the little wound and he flinched in spite of himself.
It kind of stung.
"Wimp" she accused him teasingly, placing a little kiss on his cheek instead.
"Ow, it hurts..." Michael moaned, glancing at her.
She laughed, and gave him another kiss.
"...so badly..."
"You're stupid..." she giggled and pulled him close to her, planting a firm but still delicate kiss on his lips.
Sniffing, she looked up into the ocean.
It was love. She wasn't just using him...
She knew what David would do if he could hear her thoughts. He would smirk coldly, he wouldn't even need to use words to make her doubt herself.
...but it was love. She knew it was..
"I'm not a bad person" she whispered to herself, burying her face into her knees once again.
A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, they keep the inspiration flowing. MissJNori, MissRuthless, you two really are the best. I'm always, always so thankful for your reviews!