A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! Like any other fanfic writer, I crave them more than a package of See's Nuts & Chews One thing: I do plan on getting to the Embraces of the rest of the Boys and introduce the Emersons, but it will take a while. I wanted to start this at the very beginning, and lay out the whole story. I might also put in some of Max's history. Anyhoo, glad you all like the story so much, and without further delay, here's chapter 9!

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As he walked along the beach, David thought over the night's events. Or rather, he tried to collect his thoughts. They were still spinning dizzily around his brain, never quite settling on which lobe to call home. He walked for about an hour, occasionally moving further inland, and eventually finding a closed road. He followed this; letting his feet guide him as his mind strayed. The same image kept flashing in his mind: the open, scared eyes of his first kill. He shook it out of his vision every time and kept walking.

His thoughts were so preoccupied that he lost track of time and direction altogether. He was wandering aimlessly, and soon developed a sort of blurred tunnel vision. His surroundings did not matter anymore, so he no longer saw them. He didn't notice, and didn't care.

Around 4am his mind was growing tired, and his senses began to come back into play. He heard distant waves crashing, and the smell of the ocean became stronger again. Wind swept across his face and through his dry, sandy hair and the ground beneath his feet became looser, and he felt himself stumble. He looked down to catch himself, and realized only too late that there was no more ground to place his foot on.

All previous thoughts immediately left his head, shoved out by the blind panic that returned with new cause: he was falling.

He let out a yell as he saw the sharp rocks below coming closer and closer at an alarming rate. Waves were crashing maliciously up against them, and a bare cliff face was behind him. There was no hope. He closed his eyes and the rocks came to greet him.

BAM! A wave hit the rock directly underneath him and sprayed water on his face and clothes. The smell of seawater was strong and thick now, and the thundering waves crashed all around him.

David dared to crack open an eye and was met by a crashing wave of utter bewilderment. The jagged rock rested about two feet below him, and he was hanging upside down. He looked up toward his feet, but nothing was holding him up. Another wave hit the rock, loaded with salty water and a few gallons of confusion. David was drenched by it and he recoiled at the shock of it hitting the back of his neck. As he pulled back, he noticed he floated up another few feet. The original panic of falling completely cleared his mind, so it was easier now to process what was going on. He looked up again and focused on what he wanted, and instantly he flipped upright.

"Ha HA!" he burst out and zoomed upward. A strong wind circled around him, and he spun in place along with it, and then dove back toward the crashing waves. Finding a flat spot at the base of the cliff, he made his way over and dropped onto the ground. A smile covered his face, as well as some wet tangles of blonde hair. He needed to dry off; his clothes were soaked through again. But he wasn't cold. The wet clothes clinging to his skin weren't bothering him. He wasn't cold. He just fell off a cliff and flew and his heart wasn't beating fast at all. His mind was perfectly clear, and he didn't feel the rush of adrenaline that he normally would have after such an unexpected event.

The smile fell from his face. "What am I?" he said to himself. "Oh God, what am I!" His voice echoed the outburst as it hit a distant, unseen wall. He looked up and squinted into the darkness of the cliff side, and noticed a small hole. It was about the size for two people to fit through, while ducking down. He went in, wanting to get away from the thunderous waves. The noise was near deafening.

The moment he was inside, the noise was practically silenced. Water hitting rock was still quite audible, but only the crashes were most heard. The cave walls blocked the overall noise. Inside was completely dark. He stumbled over a loose stone before stopping to allow his eyes to adjust. He did not wait long before he could clearly see the outlines of everything in the large cavern. It was a strange blend between natural rock walls and man-made structure.

"It's the hotel," he said aloud, and his voice echoed gently though the room. This must have been the lobby. David had never seen the building in its pre-earthquake glory. What he saw now must be the remainder of whatever this place used to be. A broken chandelier sat in the middle of the cavern. It must be six feet in diameter. A thick cloud of dust had settled over it, partly from the loose particles of the rock that had swallowed the building whole, and partly from the few months of sitting abandoned and unkempt.

There was rubble everywhere. Pieces of walls were scattered on the ground, what used to be the bellman's desk was now lying in five large pieces, floor tiles, and heaped in a corner was a destroyed king-sized mattress. A maid's cart was sitting tipped upside down near the chandelier. As David looked around the large cavern he discovered that most everything that was not damaged, or was at least repairable, must have been rescued for future use.

He saw another opening and climbed up to look through. It looked like a small tunnel lined with pipes and more rubble. Pushing the larger, loose pieces out of the way he crawled through. About every 5 feet he paused, making sure the ground (and more importantly, the ceiling) was stable enough for him to continue without a cave-in. The tunnel opened up to another small chamber. Small in diameter, but a very high ceiling. He looked up and saw more pipes sticking through the walls. They were difficult to see, it seemed that there was little to no natural light coming into this room. David was surprised that he could see them at all. He couldn't really explain it.

David continued to explore the cave for another couple of hours, until he came back into the main cavern and saw a few rays seeping in through the small entrance. He was exhausted. He headed back to the first small room that he had found. It seemed to have the most floor space for sleeping, and he could curl up against the wall easily. He had removed his shirt and boots since coming into the cavern, and laid the shirt over the chandelier to dry. His boots lay nearby, abandoned until the water would drain out, while his socks lay next to his shirt.

He plopped down into the dark chamber and sat down on the dry, rocky ground. Very quickly he began to drift off to sleep. All of the night's experiences swam lazily around his eyes. Before his mind went completely blank, he felt himself slipping away. His feet began to tingle first; then he could not even feel the ground underneath him, and his mind got the feeling that only seems achievable when all the blood rushes to your head. As dawn fully broke over the eastern horizon and bathed the quiet city in bright, glistening light, David slumbered in his cave.