"Once again, I must remind you, it is a school night," Jess complained loudly to an unamused Dwayne and even more so apathetic David.
Dwayne resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he led the young girl down the wooden stairs leading to the cave entrance.
"And once again, I must remind you that you owe us a favor. Now it's time to pay up," David groused.
Jess harrumphed, her expression twisting with annoyance.
Boss, you made the witch pout, Dwayne shared the now amused thought.
Good. David smirked and proceeded to shoulder-check the small witch as he sidestepped her, earning himself a wicked glare.
Marko and Paul perked up as the group made their way into the cave entrance. They were huddled by the once again broken fountain, the hourglass set carefully atop the collection of souvenirs and other treasures littering the floor of said fountain.
"Oh good you brought the witch," Paul blurted out in lieu of greeting.
Dwayne shot him a warning look which was promptly ignored.
Jess sniffed indignantly. "I have a name, thank you."
Paul shrugged indifferently. "Okay?"
Marko snickered from where he stood at his friend's side.
Jessica spared him a withering glare that lasted seconds before she was already moving to observe the enormous cavern. She nodded thoughtfully.
"Mhmm. I see exactly what your problem is," she said.
David perked up at that from where he perched on a bit of rubble. "Really? And what might that be?"
She cocked her head and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "You guys live in a shithole," was her deadpan response. "Can I go now?"
Marko clutched at imaginary pearls and gasped. "Such language for a little girl!"
"Fuck off."
She ignored the two boys and their guffaws of laughter as she peered closer at the shadowy cracks in the cavern walls with some interest.
David seized the opportunity to explain. "What you're standing in used to be Santa Carla's hottest resort until the big quake sent it into the ground."
"Literally," Marko chimed in.
David raised a brow in warning at Marko before continuing, "October cast some kind of spell to restore the place to its original grandeur."
Jess nodded in understanding. "I see what's happening here. Now that she's gone, her spell is coming apart at the seams." She cast another sweeping gaze around the cave.
Dwayne wondered what she was seeing that they were missing.
"Can you fix it?" David asked her bluntly.
Jess snorted. "Of course. What kind of hack do you take me for?"
"Oh good, and here I was beginning to think we were wasting our 'get out of jail free card'," Paul laughed.
Jess folded her arms across her chest. "You'll need to vacate the premises for a couple hours."
Dwayne mirrored her by crossing his arms. "Hours? October's spell worked instantaneously when she cast it."
Jess's expression became searching as she studied each of them. "I was under the impression that you wanted to maintain as much of the original spell. That last bit of magic is probably the last trace of October there is in this world. Or are you not as sentimental as I thought you were?"
Dwayne, Paul, and Marco each stilled from where they each stood apart. They felt how David was dangerously close to his breaking point. Their sire's outward expression gave little away, however. He stood and approached the witch calmly until he towered over her and stopped.
The witch merely stared up at him, curious about his response for all they could tell.
"Just fix the damn place before sunrise and get the hell out," he growled.
We're leaving. Now. He sent the thought to all of them as he pivoted and made for the cave entrance.
"You're welcome!" Jess called out sarcastically to their backs as they left the cave. "Assholes," they heard her mutter to herself.
The vampires wasted no time once they hit the boardwalk. They were all on edge after hearing what the small witch said. October's last bit of magic was fading. And because her very ashes had been scattered to the four winds, the resurrected hotel itself was the last piece of her they still had and clung to. Without the hotel, it was as though she had never existed in their lives at all.
If October's magic is fading, then that means so is the glamour she placed on us, Dwayne pointed out to the others.
Which means anyone can recognize us now, Marko concluded.
Paul snorted, eyeing a group of girls ahead loudly complaining about all the people who drove out to Santa Carla for the concert. "Who cares if anyone does. This is still our territory. Especially now that the Widow is dead."
Dwayne just shook his head disapprovingly at the rocker before redirecting his attention to a group of surf nazi's starting to peel off from the large crowd gathering around the band stand on the beach.
Midnight snack, anyone? Marko thought cheekily.
Their prey really made it too easy, isolating themselves far enough away from the crowds of the beach boardwalk where no one would accidentally happen upon the impending massacre.
It was over practically before it began. But apparently, no one told David that.
As the others finished their feeding frenzy scattered around the beginnings of a bonfire, their sire continued to tear into the remains of a long since dismembered body. At this point he wasn't even feeding anymore. He wasn't even playing with his food anymore. They watched mutely as David poured all of his grief and rage into tearing apart the bag of bones and blood that remained of a surf nazi's corpse.
With a heaving roar, David threw what remained of his butchery into the barely smoldering embers of the bonfire.
The others shared varying looks of uncertainty until Dwayne mentally nudged Marko to do what he did best: coax David into complacency.
The shortest blond swiped at his mouth as he gingerly approached his sire. David stood unmoving before the bonfire, gaze transfixed on the quickly growing flames. He didn't react at all when Marko sidled up to him.
"Boss?" Marko asked warily. Still, David did not acknowledge him. He didn't dare take a peek inside the other's head for fear of overstepping. Instead, he continued on as though he wasn't totally retattled. "Why don't you go check on the witch? We'll clean up here."
At last, David turned his gaze away from the fire and looked to an anxious Marko. He brought a hand up and cupped the other's face. Marko resisted the urge to squirm as David swiped a gloved thumb over his chin before letting go.
"You missed a spot," David told him with a smirk.
Dwayne released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Yeah, good luck trying to save that coat by the way," Paul laughed.
They all glanced down David's blood soaked sleeves and shirt.
"It's black. No one will notice the stains, probably," Marko said.
"Guess I'll take the scenic route back," David shrugged, already moving on.
"I'll bring your bike back before sun up," Dwayne added helpfully, partially relieved at how the tense moment from before had been so easily resolved.
After David left and they cleaned up around the bonfire, none of them mentioned a word about what just happened.
Dwayne knew something was wrong the moment they returned to the hotel.
Though it wasn't immediately obvious what was wrong, he could sense… something.
On the one hand, the hotel was once again set in order which meant Jess had been successful in preserving her sister's spell and was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh. The hourglass is gone," Paul mentioned offhandedly.
Dwayne's gaze snapped to the restored front desk and it's empty surface. He swore under his breath and headed towards their rooms, Marko and Paul trailing after him. In one of those rooms, he could sense his sire who hopefully knew the whereabouts of the one thing that might help them to reunite with their soulmate.
He was drawn to David's closed bedroom door and barged in without knocking. Pausing just over the threshold, Marko and Paul crowding in the doorway behind him, they were met with a slightly unexpected sight.
The room was lit by soft candle light and on the nightstand was the missing hourglass. From the parted bed curtains they could see a bare leg stretched out from under rumpled sheets.
Overall, the room had an unanticipated air of...romance?
"Uh, boss?" Paul wondered aloud, causing the figure on the bed to shift and then begin to sit up.
A bare chested David greeted them, sheets pooled in his lap. Dwayne and the others ventured further into the room, confusion steadily mounting. They froze when the most self-satisfied grin curved the corners of David's mouth up. It was strange for them to see such an expression that was usually reserved for potential prey aimed at them and they didn't know what to make of it.
"You'll never believe what happened," David began to tell them, unrestrained excitement in his voice. "I saw her. I don't know how, but she's back. She's actually alive!"
Eyes wide, Dwayne searched the room in a quick sweep, not daring to hope that he might actually see October of all people coming out of the bathroom or lounging on the couch. But the room was empty and the sense that something really was wrong only increased.