Thank you all so much for reading, and for the peeps that have followd - hope you're enjoying it!
"I don't see why I couldn't've stayed with her for a bit" Paul whined as him and Dwayne descended the rocky steps into the hotel. Dwayne clenched his jaw tight; he'd had to listen to Paul complain about Marko taking away his plaything all the ride back home and his patience was wearing thin.
"I don't know man, go bug Marko about it if you want her that bad" Dwayne huffed, jumping off the final, steep rock and landing on the sandy floor with a thud.
"But she smelt good right, it wasn't just me, I mean, she smelt really good bro..." Paul ignored Dwayne's brush off, chasing close behind him as he carried on in rapture about the girl he met in town, "...and dude, those eyes man, and her legs!..."
Dwayne ground his teeth and shoved Paul hard in the shoulder onto the old sofa..."I swear to God man, if you mention that girl again, I'm gonna..."
"What girl"?
Both Dwayne and Paul looked up to the entrance of the cave to where David and Marko were striding down the steps.
"Just some chick Paul ran into in town" Dwayne complained, sinking onto the sofa next to Paul, missing the warning look Marko had given him.
"She's not just some chick bud, I think I'm in love, she's the one, I can feel it..." Paul said with conviction, his grey-blue eyes sparkling in the dim candlelight "...and anyway, she ran into me, it's not like I went chasin' her or nothin'"
"Only after you called her to you, you idiot" Dwayne chuckled darkly, punching Paul on the arm.
David rolled his eyes and chuckled softly, every month Paul was in love with some new girl, so convinced she was going to be the one he'd spend eternity with, but it always ended in his brothers tossing her mangled, bloody body off the end of the point or roasting on a bonfire as Paul sank into a pit of despair, then almost instantly his head would turn at the sight of his next true love.
Paul never did have much self-control.
"So, where'd you meet this new one, Romeo" David teased, placing a cigarette between his lips and flicking his lighter to life, shielding it from the faint ocean breeze with his gloved hand.
Marko cringed; this was not going to end well.
Paul leapt from the sofa, hopping up gracefully onto the edge of the long dried up fountain and proceeded to walk around its edge, arms outstretched as if for balance, though he didn't need to.
"She was in a club, took me a little while to pry her away but she just couldn't resist my awesome charm..." Paul recounted with a wolfish grin plastered on his face "...not seen her around before, and I'd definitely remember her..."
David watched as Paul jumped down off the fountain and sped away on a skateboard, connecting the dots quicker than Marko had hoped as Paul continued to go on about the girl.
David's demeanour quickly changed as he took a slow drag of his cigarette, his eyes turning cold, his face hard and expressionless, his muscles tensing under his coats and the air in the cave felt like it dropped a few degrees. Both Marko and Dwayne felt the change in atmosphere and shifted uncomfortably under the heavy weight of it, Paul, oblivious, carried on waxing lyrical about her golden-brown hair, her big dark eyes, her long legs...
"...Dude, you should've seen the way she held onto me when those two punks were chasing her..."
David's fists clenched, his eyes flashing yellow in the darkness as the rage bubbled in his chest.
"And you just let them go"? David interrupted darkly, his fingers clutching at the arms of his wheelchair as he faught the fury washing over him in powerful waves. Not entirely sure which part he was more livid about, that some jerkoff punks had dared to hunt her down, or that it was Paul's arms she'd fallen into for safety.
"Well yeah, Marko told us to hit the road so we took off" Paul said, looking up at David and then to Marko pleadingly, silently begging his older brother to back him up, now noticing David's shift in mood.
"It was getting late David, I didn't want to..." Marko started, walking slowly over to his brother.
"You mean to tell me, your girl was being chased down by two dickweed punks, and you did nothing about it" David said, his tone dangerous as he looked up at Paul with frozen fire in his eyes.
"Hey, you're right" Paul said, stepping off the skateboard and letting it crash into the wall.
"Well Pauly, what are you gonna do about it" David said with an evil smirk as he looked up at Paul, his cigarette hanging from between his lips.
Paul turned to the rest of his brothers, freeing his darker self with a wicked grin, his eyes glowing yellow in the firelight, his brow creasing unnaturally as his long fangs protruded from his lips.
"I think I'm in the mood for a midnight snack..." he said with a grin "...care to partake dudes"?
They found them passed out underneath the boardwalk, empty beer cans and cigarette butts scattered around them.
David would've liked it better if they'd been awake, at least then he could've chased them. Chased them as they chased her, he could've felt the fear pulsating out of every one of their pores, heard their hearts beat furiously in their chests, watch their eyes cloud over with the knowledge that there was no escape.
But this would have to do.
David yanked one of them up off the sand, his talons sinking into his thick neck, pushing him up against a rotten, waterlogged beam and the punk let out a wild scream, his bloodshot eyes unfocused with a haze of alcohol and pain.
David barely noticed his brothers already ripping into the other one, David wanted to take a bit more time, he wanted to feel his fear, fear of him, fear of his inevitable bloody death.
David tightened his grip around the punk's neck, grinning as his feet swung heavily, his fingers scratching at David's arms, his oily face turning red and then purple as David squeezed harder, blood trickling down his fingers.
David could hear the hard thump of the punk's heart slow and he released him quickly, the punk fell to his knees and buried his hands in the cold sand as he choked and spluttered, gasping for air, his heart beat now racing again and David breathed deeply, the sweet smell of fear hitting him like a euphoric tidal wave as the punk scrambled away.
David chucked darkly, stalking over to him, clawing at his back and grabbing a fistful of the guys t-shirt, throwing him against another rotted beam. A sickening crack echoed in the dark and the punk slumped down helplessly in the sand, his back broken in several places. David's face twisted into a terrifying smile and he launched himself at the punk, his razor-sharp teeth tearing at the guys neck, face, shoulders as blood gushed down into the sand and coated David's face and chest.
David didn't drink and they didn't hide the bodies.
This wasn't a thirst kill.
This was a warning.
