TW: Slight homophobic slurs and an attempted sexual assault. Both are very mild.
()()()
The next night, as soon as the sun went down, Taylor jolted awake.
There would be no second thoughts, no chances to take this back. She was a vampire, but that didn't mean she had to be a Santa Carla vampire. She could leave here and start fresh, like she wanted. She'd even bring Sam with her, away from Michael's indifference and Lucy's insanity and Max's constant eyes. He seemed to like Santa Carla enough, but in a new town, she hoped, he would really blossom. This way, he could never become like her, she could protect him.
This was her middle ground, her escape and Sam's too. Iff she left soon enough she'd be able to clear the county line before the rest of her family was even awake.
Throwing most of her clothes and a couple of other belongings into a hefty duffle, Taylor zippered the bag and moved to wake Sam.
He was sleeping so soundly, so peacefully, that she almost rethought her whole plan. Momentarily, she thought about waiting just one more day or feeding before she left, anything to stall this moment - the one where she would have to make him choose between staying with this family, or leaving with her.
But she knew she couldn't delay or she'd become caught up in it again. Santa Carla had a way of sucking you in to a pattern, alluring you so that you never really had the chance to leave. This opportunity would be slim - Taylor could sense it - and she needed to make a move while she still could.
She shook her brother awake, and explained her plan.
Unsurprisingly, his decision was simple. He'd never really found a home here, and his sister - undead or not - was his whole life. Unlike the others, vampirism hadn't made her harder, at least not yet, and he was determined not to make that happen. Despite the blood, he wanted Taylor to stay the same as always, and that could not happen inside of Santa Carla.
"What about David?" Sam asked quietly.
As soon as the words were out, and his sister's silence followed, he thought better of it. But it was too late, and it had already been said.
"He regrets everything," Taylor said blankly but honestly, complete with a gentle shrug of her shoulder. She was numb, Sam knew, tired from thinking and crying all day, most likely.
Sam asked no more questions, and silently hoped that she wouldn't regret this.
Either way, he was her brother, not her judge.
()()()
Taylor drove faster than she normally would, pushing 80 or 90 in Grandpa's car down the open highway. She wanted to put as much distance as she could between this car and the rest of her family, especially given their apparent ability to fly. David might not come after her, but Lucy and Max would certainly have something to say about all this.
Sam did not seem as concerned. In the seat next to her, he bobbed along to Duran Duran on the stereo and didn't argue when she would switch it over to her Danzig cassette instead. The windows were down, blowing her hair wildly in the wind as they moved south down the coast.
Originally, they thought about Phoenix. They could return to Dad, and maybe to their old life there, but Taylor had let Sam make the final decision.
"Let's try something new," He had said, gesturing towards the highway that would lead them South instead of East.
And now here they were, fifty miles down the road, an empty can of Jolt between them.
"We need to stop for provisions soon!" Sam exclaimed, nearly yelling over the wind. "We're far enough away now, and they should just be waking up. Pick a 7/11, so I can get a Slurpee."
Taylor wouldn't deny him that. Her eyes scanned the exit signs, moving quickly past them.
"Thank you for coming with me, Sam." She said quietly, not totally sure if he'd heard it. But he reached for her hand, and squeezed it.
()()()
Moments later, they pulled into the parking lot of a dingy 7/11. The Fairlane didn't need gas just yet, but Taylor fueled up while she could.
"I'll go in," Sam volunteered. "Want anything?"
"Another?" Taylor held up the Jolt can. "Or a coffee, if they don't have it."
Caffeine didn't have nearly the same effect, but she liked the taste, and it's not as if it could harm her now anyway. Sam acknowledged her with a nod, and entered the dimly-lit store.
Taylor was a pretty girl, outside alone in a gas station parking lot way past dark. She should've been the venerable one. But she wasn't.
Sam was taking too long, and she tapped her foot. The store was otherwise empty, and a snack run shouldn't have taken more than 5 minutes. She could see him at the checkout counter inside the store, but the blinds were mostly down, and she couldn't make out much more than that.
"C'mon Sam," She muttered, looking around her. There were too many trees around here, and not enough people. If the others had woken up and come looking, she and Sam would be sitting ducks, especially if they had figured out what direction they'd gone in.
They needed to get back on the road.
Taylor locked the doors to the Fairlane and moved towards the store hurriedly, wondering if Sam had run out of money, or if he was asking about a bathroom key. She wished either was true.
"I don't sell to fucking twinks, kid." The cashier said, reaching a hand across the counter and shoving the pile of snacks Sam had placed there onto the floor. His red Slurpee splattered onto the tile.
"Excuse me?" Taylor blurted out before her brother had a chance to. She'd seen him go red and, like any big sister, rushed to his defense. She looked the cashier up and down, stepping in front of her brother. "You're one to talk."
The man's face turned a deep red, and he sputtered in front of her, reaching across the counter to grab at her.
"I'll show you what a man I am."
He attempted to pull Taylor's thin body across the counter, her shirt riding up and the sweat of her stomach making her skid uncomfortable as he yanked at her, a desperate attempt to remove it from her body.
Taylor did not scream. She glanced back at Sam, her eyes holding a silent message for him to run, and then she bit. If the man wanted a taste of her so badly, she was going to take something from him first.
But she ended up taking all of him, her body stretched across the counter as she tore angrily at his neck, slurping down all the blood she could get.
Behind her, two pairs of eyes watched on.
"This is a lot to stomach," Sam swallowed, feeling more than a little queasy, but he was unable to tear his eyes from his sister's hungry form.
"Get out of here," David urged, pushing him towards the door. Michael waited outside, sent by Lucy to collect his siblings. She couldn't have been bothered to come herself.
Sam tried to steal one last look at his sister, but Michael turned him away from the store with a cold hand on his shoulder. Together, they walked towards the Fairlane.
()()()
David looked at the carnage around them, the blood splattering the walls and the corpse laying lifelessly between them. He hadn't caused this directly, he knew, but the events of the past month or so had all come together to create this disaster.
Taylor stood at the center of it all, her hair wild and her clothes ruined, redish-brown blood trailing down her chin in a way that was both animalistic and seductive. It made him want to cry and kiss her at the same time.
She looked up at him. "I hoped you wouldn't come."
"That's a lie," He growled, discontent. "We both know it."
She didn't correct him, only watched silently as his eyes followed her path of destruction.
"I'd take it all back, if I could." David sighed. "I'd undo all of it and put you right back in that house in Phoenix, where you were safe and you'd never heard my name."
His self-hatred was evident now, though it had remained hidden deep under his initial cockiness. He hated what he was, hated that he had played a part in turning her into what she was as well. But Taylor would have none of his self-pity. She crossed the room and stood directly in front of him, so close that their chests just barely brushed. She looked up at his clear blue eyes and reached a hand out, touching his chest as she spoke.
"It's too late now. We can't take it back."
She was right, he knew. The wine had already been drunk, and the blood had already been spilt. Taylor was what she was. She had accepted it, and now David needed to as well.
She moved closer to him, standing on her tip toes and reaching her face closer to his, stopping only a breath away from his lips.
"You need to play the hand you're dealt." She meant it to him as much as she did to herself. She was a vampire, they all were, and Sam would likely become one too. As hard as she tried, there was no escaping this, or running around outside of her fate.
Moving another half-inch forward, Taylor planted her lips on his, her hands coming up to reach around to the back of David's head, running her red fingernails through his hair. David moaned in response, and it reverberated around her mouth in a way that made her smile. Instinctively, his hands curled almost possessively around her waist, pulling her hips flush against his.
"This is what you want?" He pulled back from her momentarily, gesturing towards the rest of the gas station.
"I want you," She shrugged. "And I can handle whatever comes with it."
This, at least, was not a lie. It was the closest thing she'd gotten to honesty from any vampire in Santa Carla.
They left the store together, after checking the CCTV cameras and dragging the body out into the woods. David could sense that the victim wouldn't exactly be missed, and someone else could clean up the rest of Taylor's mess.
He led her to Michael's motorcycle. David had flown down, keeping an eye out for Taylor's Fairlane on the highways, while Michael had made good enough time on his bike.
"The Fairlane," Taylor said questioningly, nodding towards the spot next to the single gas pump where it was parked minutes before.
"Michael took it home, Sam too." David said, his voice faltering momentarily at the word home. But Taylor didn't reject it, and she didn't reject him.
"Take me there," She swallowed hard, slightly nervous about facing Max and Lucy's wrath upon her return. At least, she figured, not much could hurt her now.
She climbed onto her brother's bike, wrapping her arms firmly around David's waist and closing her eyes, breathing him in.
"You ready?" He yelled back to her, over the rumble of the bike.
"Always," She grinned, opening her eyes to the night highway as he zoomed down the road.