Title: A Vampire's Word (Part 6)
Author: Love In Vein
Summary: The sequel to David's Revenge. Laddie is heartbroken after the Pack leaves Santa Carla. When they return, will they find themselves no longer welcome in his life?
Disclaimer: As we all know, the WB owns The Lost Boys and all of the characters therein. Anything else I mentioned in this story are also owned by other people, too. I still own Annabelle, Sela, Alex, Dr. Hansen *and* Charlotte too!
A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to post this part! Writer's block totally sucks! I'm thinking there will only be two or three more chapters and then I'll definitely post my fully completed story about Sela.

Part 6

Laddie awoke late the next afternoon to the shrill ringing of the cordless phone that sat next to his bed. "Yeah?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Did I wake ya, dude?" asked Alex in an annoyingly cheerful voice.

"Nah, nah...I was just 'bout to get up, anyway. What's up?"

"Feel up to a little partying?"

Laddie slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. Where?"

"At the dunes. You know the place. Can you be there around like eight?"

"Sure, that's cool. Char's gonna be there right?" Laddie asked.

"But of course, man. Okay, gotta go. See ya."

"Yeah, see ya Alex," Laddie replied and clicked off the phone.

He slid fully out of bed and proceeded to begin his usual routine of showering and dressing for the day. After he was done he glanced at his clock and saw that it was only six in the evening. He hoped that no one from the Pack would visit him tonight. He just wanted to party and forget for a little while about the drama that was unfolding nightly.

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Lucy sat in the kitchen and watched as her son rooted the refrigerator for who-knows-what. "Honey, what are you looking for?" she asked.

"I thought I put an open can of Pepsi in here somewhere. Did you see it?" Laddie answered.

"No, I didn't. So, what are you up to tonight?"

Laddie let out a 'ha!' and triumphantly pulled a can of soda from where it was lodged in the very back of the fridge. He closed the door and leaned against it. "Uh, Alex told me about a party on the dunes. I'm gonna check it out."

"Oh, will there be any drugs?"

Laddie rolled his eyes at the question and heaved a long and exaggerated sigh. "Yeah Mom, I can't wait to shoot up all that heroin. Seriously, did I ever do anything anyway?" he asked, ignoring the fact that she had indeed caught him smoking pot a couple of years ago.

Lucy decided not to bring up that incident. "Well, it's only a mother's concern. You've been having some problems lately and I don't thinks drugs and alcohol will help with solving them."

"Okay, okay...I won't get high or drunk tonight. I promise, Scout's honor," he replied, a mischievous grin on his face. "Well, sorry Mom, but I better go."

"All right, but honey?"

Laddie stopped at the door. "Yeah?"

"You were never a Boy Scout."

"I know!" he shouted and trotted out to his bike.

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Laddie drove his bike onto the beach and parked it a few feet from the location of the party. As he neared the spot he saw a raging bonfire and people milling around it, some dancing to the loud heavy metal that was blasting from a portable stereo on the ground. Alex noticed him walking up and waved him over. "Hey, Laddie, you made it!" he said loudly, a bottle of beer held loosely in one hand.

"Of course I did! I needed to get out for a while!" Laddie answered just as loudly. "So, this party any good?"

"As good as these things can be. I think prob'ly my *mom* partied here when she was a kid," Alex said with a laugh.

"Yeah probably," Laddie answered. "So, where's Char?"

"What's with you and Char? Ah, whatever," Alex replied. "She's over there with some other chicks. I think she wanted to see you."

Laddie squinted through the light fog that had settled on the beach in the direction Alex pointed and spotted the girl in a loose but short black dress. "Cool, I'm gonna go see her. Later, man."

"'Kay, later."

Laddie walked over to where Charlotte was standing and tapped her on the shoulder. "Uh, Alex said you wanted to see me?" he asked.

Charlotte turned to her friends, silently telling them that she needed to be alone with her right now on-again boyfriend. "Yeah, I did. I just wanted to ummm...tell you how much I really care about you." she said quietly as they walked to a more secluded spot.

"I know, Char, I care about you too. Was that really all you wanted to tell me?"

She bit her bottom lip and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. "No, there's more. It's...Laddie, I can't do this anymore."

Laddie furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her in confusion. "Do what?" he asked.

"*This*, Laddie. This on and off shit. I want to...no, I *need* to know what you want from me. Do you want this relationship to stick once and for all?" she asked, a plaintive tone in her voice.

"God, Charlotte, you're asking me this now?" he questioned, anger creeping slightly into his voice.

"Yeah, now. Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, it is. You have to know what's going on in my life right now. Why would you throw something else on top of it?"

To Laddie's surprise Charlotte rolled her eyes and snorted. "Your *choice*, you mean? God, I've never heard of something so blown out of proportion before. Like it's life or death or something."

"Well, you know what? It *is*. I have to choose whether or not to give up my whole life for a totally different one. What's your most difficult choice? What color to dye your hair next?" he snarled.

"Oh, that's great. What was I thinking, wanting to be with an asshole like you? Well fuck you, Laddie Emerson! You can do whatever the hell you want!" Charlotte yelled as she stomped away from him.

"Damn it! Char, wait! Come on, Char, we can't end it like this! *Fuck*!" he exclaimed and started to run after her when a hand lightly placed on his shoulder stopped him.

He almost swatted the hand hard until he recognized who it must belong to. "Annabelle, now is not the greatest time," he said, very irritated.

"Actually, I would think now is the best time. Care to talk?" she asked, stepping around him and beginning to make her way to the party.

Laddie quickly caught up to her and grabbed her arm as she reached the edge of the crowd. "All right, all right, so we'll talk. What's on your mind, Anna?"

She smiled up at him slyly ('I can't believe he's taller than I am now' she thought) and pried his fingers off of her arm. "How about we walk as we talk? I haven't been to a good bonfire in *years*," she added, her grey eyes sparkling with slight mischief.

Laddie couldn't help but grin and they both laughed. "Okay, let's walk," he said and they began to weave their way through the crowd.

"So what happened?" Annabelle asked, slipping her arm around his and holding onto it lightly.

"She wanted me to decide "our" future," he said, quoting with the fingers of his free hand at the word 'our'.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well, her timing su...uh, stinks," he replied, catching himself. He'd never even used that word around Anna before.

Annabelle couldn't help but smile at his correction. "Laddie, I think I'm quite old enough to hear *any* word."

"Yeah, I know. But you're *Anna*. It just feels weird."

"Well it's nice to know that you think so highly of me," she said and squeezed his arm. "But back to my question. What is *really* wrong with that?"

"Really? It's that she thinks so little of what I'm going through. It's like it doesn't matter to her so why should she care?"

"But you still want to be with her," Annabelle stated plainly.

Laddie stopped walking and ran his hand through his hair. "I wouldn't try to hide it from you, Anna. Yeah, I do. I don't know if I can say I *love* her, but I do care about her a lot."

"Is she your safety net? Your excuse? Or do you actually *need* her...like I need David?" she asked, quietly slipping David into the conversation.

That wasn't lost on Laddie but knew they had to talk about him and the Pack. "When it comes down to it...no. I don't need her like you need him. But it's a totally different thing! He's your *mate* for god's sake!"

"That's true, but I would still love him fiercely if he weren't. I loved him even before he claimed me," she pointed out.

"Why?"

"Why did I love him?" she continued at Laddie's nod. "For many reasons. He cared for me, watched out for me. His passion, his love for the Pack and how genuinely he hurt for them. Of course, there is the physical aspect. And he's one great kisser," she added with a smile.

Laddie was silent for awhile. Then a question he hadn't given much thought to suddenly sprang to him. "Can I ask you something, Anna?"

"Anything, kid."

"What will happen if I don't join the Pack?" he asked.

Annabelle sucked in an unneeded breath and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she looked up at him and said firmly, "We will accept your decision and move on for good. You won't see us again."

"You mean you'll leave Santa Carla permanently? Because of me?"

"I don't think we could stand it. To be so close and yet so far to someone so important to us would be too painful. You can understand that, can't you?"

"I guess so. I mean, yeah, I can. You guys are important to me, too. I don't know if I can lose you again," he said and suddenly he found himself beginning to choke up.

"Oh, Laddie sweetheart," Annabelle murmured and put her hands on his shoulders, pulling him into a comforting hug. "Everything will be all right, you'll see. Everything will work out just fine."

Laddie pulled away from her and gave her a shaky smile. "Yeah, I guess it will be. Anna, you know you're the best. You've helped me a lot, you know?"

"Well, just choose whatever makes you the happiest. When it comes down to it, nothing else matters. You'll talk to David soon, won't you?"

"Yeah, real soon. Give it a couple of days, okay?"

"Exactly two days? The day after tomorrow?" she asked persistently.

Laddie laughed and shook his head. "Okay, yeah, the day after tomorrow. I guess he'll know where to find me."

"He always does, hon," she replied and reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you again soon."

"Bye, Anna," he called after her as she disappeared into the fog.

He didn't even notice when a slightly drunk Alex meandered up behind him. "Damn, dude, you sure do rebound fast!"