Feeding felt so good, like a hunger she'd been ignoring for years and years had finally been satiated. Maybe, she thought briefly, the thirst for human blood had been present for generations, all the way back to Elizabeth Bathory, and they'd merely been repressing it all this time.

Taylor had made a decision by making none at all. By simply giving in to her instincts, to her hunger and desire to feed, she'd eliminated the only options she had. It was both devastating, and freeing. While she no longer carried the weight of her family's future, she could never identify as a vegetarian again either.

Once the euphoria was gone, and her adrenaline had stopped pumping through her empty veins, Taylor could feel the difference. Everything she'd felt before was only heightened now - her senses, her thoughts, her energy. No wonder Laddie was a ball of chaos, if he had this much energy pumping through his system after he fed.

Unsurprisingly, her first thought when she came to was about David. Surprisingly, her second was about Sam.

How would David react, knowing that she'd made this decision, one that would link them permanently? And Sam…she'd left him all alone now. Of course, she'd never actually leave him - they'd have to tear her apart from her baby brother with their bare hands - but now he was the only human in a house of vampires. A house of monsters.

Taylor shuddered, understanding now that her decision was both terrifying and freeing. There would be no more expectations to conform to, no more pressure to be someone or to do something. Taylor's life was now a blank slate, and there was nothing but time ahead of her. On the other hand, the girl who couldn't stand steak was now a killer.

Taylor placed a hand on her hip, exasperated, only to pull it away and see it covered in blood.

"Shit," She sighed. She'd made a real mess of this one.

While her clothes were a deep red, Adam's - or whatever his name was - weren't nearly as bad. His tee looked like he'd taken a bit of a tumble down one of the dunes, but it wasn't nearly as bad as her ruined Poison shirt. With a brief glance around her, Taylor stripped off her tee and replaced it with Adam's. It was big on her but not too much so - he'd been short, and the white shirt grazed the middle of her cut offs.

Now, what to do with the body.

Momentarily, Taylor wondered if she should've asked David or Michael what to do in this situation, how to prepare for it. But it was too late now, and she found herself lugging a 200-pound teenager towards the shoreline in the middle of the night. Thankfully, the boardwalk was closing up now, its lights dimming and the music starting to fade. Adam's friend's bonfire was still glowing in the distance, but the cheers from partiers were growing quieter and fainter as well. She'd dispose of the body, and then she'd get out of here. Silently, she said a prayer to whatever God would listen that no one noticed the distinctive drag marks in the sand.

()()()

This time, Taylor didn't have to climb through the window. The front door was eerily opened a crack, and she pushed it hesitantly.

She knew what she must look like. Her hair was frizzed and salty from the beach air, her shoes and ankles were muddy and she was in a stranger's t shirt with the tiniest bit of blood on the collar. She looked like what she was - a vampire.

She could hear the clattering of forks and knives on silverware as soon as she got inside, her mother's distinctive cackle echoing throughout her ears. Another family dinner.

Taylor really didn't want to be there, especially looking like she was, and so she tried to silently sneak up the stairs, a difficult feat when you were squishing mud on the white carpets.

"We can hear you, Taylor." Lucy teased. Momentarily, Taylor could hear Max scold her.

"Please, come join us." He called a moment later.

Mumbling a string of curses, Taylor sucked in a breath and walked towards the dining room. If her family hadn't sensed her decision before, it was certainly confirmed then.

She stood in the doorway alone, a beacon of disarray, and met their eyes one by one. Most of the Lost Boys were indifferent, but Laddie had a distinctive look of excitement flash across his face. Michael was content, David was uneasy, and Max looked like he'd been handed a goddamn olympic medal. Sam's eyes were the hardest to meet - she'd expected so much disappointment, so much sadness - but instead she'd found understanding, sympathy. He wasn't happy, but he was willing to understand, and that was all she needed.

Lucy was a different entity altogether, and she looked at Taylor with a wide smirk on her face.

"I told you so," She muttered, taking a bit of her mostly-raw steak. "I told you it would come to this. And isn't it so fun - the killing, that is? The eating?"

Lucy chewed deliberately with her mouth open, allowing Taylor a full view of the animal flesh that sat on her tongue, mangled by her teeth.

"Oh, am I being rude? Would you like a bite?" Lucy stuck out her fork with a red piece of steak on the end, and, although it was far from appetizing, Taylor did not recoil for the first time in ten years. "No? So, what was he like, Taylor, the one you ate?"

"I put the body in the ocean." She attempted to say so evenly, to show she was unfazed. "I hope that's alright."

"You did good, Taylor." Michael said, acknowledging her comment before Lucy could take another jab. "I'm sure you did good."

"Yeah, you're a real natural." Lucy chuckled, pushing farther. "Did he taste good, baby girl? Sweet like ice cream, or salty like the ocean?"

"Shut up," Sam muttered, refusing to meet Lucy's eyes.

"Excuse me?" Lucy turned to look at her only remaining human son, her eyes dark and red with anger at having her authority questioned. She looked as if she would jump at him right then and there, and rip his throat clean out of his body.

For a second, fear flashed in Taylor's eyes, even if it was only David who saw this.

"Shut up." David echoed in a deeper growl, standing to move between Lucy and her son. Despite the situation, and Max's power over his spawn, David was the one Lost Boy that Lucy still had some fear of and, although she did not cower, she averted her eyes from his harsh gaze.

"You're not the hero in this story, you know, David?" She mocked, cutting another piece off of her steak.

David rolled his eyes, ignoring her comment as he sat down again. A few seats down, Sam swallowed harshly.

Taylor looked over at the man who'd offered her an out - a future without killing, without becoming a whole new creature - and nodded at him, a silent thank-you. For everything.

He looked up at her, glancing quickly around the table to confirm that everyone had refocused on their food, and mouthed a quick 'talk later.' Then, family dinner continued.