Edgar pulled away and scrubbed his hands over his face. "Sorry," he grunted.

"It's okay. Let's get out of here."

"I can't!" He jumped to his feet. "The store."

"Fuck the store. You'd be closing in an hour anyway. Close up now and come with us. Then we'll deal with this… situation."

"But—" Edgar stopped and nodded. "Give me a minute."

I stood by the door while he emptied the till, turned off the lights, and pulled the sliding doors across the front of the store. Dwayne came outside and Edgar locked up.

"Take him to the house," I told Dwayne.

Edgar glanced at me in alarm. "What house?"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. Dwayne will take care of you."

"No, I don't know him." He backed away.

"Edgar, listen to me." I grabbed his wrist, lightly enough that he could pull away if he wanted. "You can trust us. I've been through the same thing you have."

Dwayne's eyes widened as he looked at me. I gave a slight shake of my head, warning him not to say anything.

"As for him… he's like a big brother," I continued. "You know that little half vamp kid we have hanging around with us? Laddie? Dwayne mostly takes care of him. You'll be fine with him."

Edgar glanced from me to Dwayne and back again.

"He's right," Dwayne said. "You'll be safe with me."

"Where are you going?" Edgar asked me.

"I have something to take care of. I'll be along in a while."

He nodded meekly and walked away with Dwayne. Clearly, he felt safer alone at night with a vampire, than with his so-called family. My vague admission probably helped. Gritting my teeth, I went around the back of the store to the outer door that led directly up to the living accommodation. The mother was out, the uncle had said. So, I could do what needed to be done without having her in the way.

The door was unlocked, and I let myself in, then moved silently up the stairs. The uncle was lying on the couch watching porn, his dick out, slowly stroking it.

"That you, Eddie?"

My jaw cracked as I ground my teeth. I stepped through the open door. "No, it's not Edgar, you dirty sack of shit."

The man sprang from the couch, fumbling to shove his dick into his pants. "You were in the store. Who the hell are you?"

"Your worst nightmare."

"Where's Edgar?"

"Safe, where you'll never touch him again. You, on the other hand, are history." In a flash of movement, I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off his feet. "You sick fuck, molesting children, your own fucking flesh and blood. What the hell is wrong with you?"

The uncle kicked and struggled, clawing at my hand gripping his throat and gasping for air. I pulled him in closer and allowed his feet to touch the ground. My fangs extended and I pulled my lips back to give him a good look.

"You know what I am? You know what Santa Carla's famous for?"

He gasped and struggled, unable to speak, eyes wide with terror.

"You know what we do? We rid the town of scum like you." My temper rose and I couldn't control myself any longer. As much as I wanted to draw it out and scare the shit out of him, my fury wouldn't let me. I ducked my head and drove my fangs into his neck. His blood flooded my mouth and I gulped it down, sucking on his neck hard to drain him. His thundering heart began to slow, and the acrid stench of urine assaulted my nostrils as he pissed himself. I carried on drinking, not spilling a drop until his eyes clouded over and his pulse stopped. When I was done, I carried the body outside, soared into the air and out over the sea, where I dropped it into the waves.

I returned to the video store to collect my bike and rode to the house that had once been Max's, when that sick bastard had still been alive. What had happened to Edgar brought it all back, and I wanted to kill Max all over again. I remembered that day when I'd used a human's methods and rammed a fence post through his chest in my desperation to rid myself of the nightmare.

By the time I parked the bike, I was shaking with rage and sickness. I paced and stamped in the yard until I calmed enough to let myself into the house. They were in the lounge room, Dwayne reading the comic he'd bought, and Edgar huddled on the corner of the couch.

"Hey."

They both looked up, Dwayne meeting my gaze. "Sorted?" he asked.

I nodded. "Will you get Star, Michael, and Laddie?"

Dwayne left without a word.

"What happened?" Edgar licked his lips and wrapped his arms tight around himself.

"You won't ever have to worry about him again."

His eyes widened. "You killed him?"

"Yes."

Edgar sat in silence for a full minute, contemplating. "Good."

"Is there anything you want to ask me?"

He shook his head.

"Okay. The others will be here soon. You know Michael, right?"

Edgar stiffened. "Yes, he's Sam's brother. You, um, you forced him into being like you!"

"No one forced him into doing anything. It was his choice. Star warned him. There's no pressure on him to change fully. He's not fond of me, but he has her. We get along."

"I thought Star was with you."

I sighed. "Was, for a while. Under sufferance, I think." I shot him a smile. "I haven't been very nice to them. Don't hold it against me. I am what I am."

"So why did you help me? Why not just kill me, or change me? Or carry on taunting me the way you all did before?"

I hesitated as I heard bikes outside. Dwayne and the others hadn't wasted any time. "I suppose I saw a little bit of me in you in some ways," I said quickly.

Edgar didn't comment as Star and Laddie came into the room, followed by Michael. "Hey, Edgar," Michael said. "Good to see you."

Edgar nodded.

"Hey, Edgar, I'm Laddie." The young boy bounced onto the couch beside Edgar. "You're from the comic store. You're so lucky. If I worked in there, I'd read the comics all day."

Edgar managed a small smile. "What's your favourite comic?"

"Batman!"

"That reminds me—" I pulled the rolled-up comic I'd bought earlier out of my pocket and tossed it to Laddie. "There you go."

"Thanks, David!" He opened the comic eagerly. "You want to read this with me, Edgar?"

"Okay."

Relieved, I caught Dwayne's eye and walked out of the room. "What are you going to do with him?" he asked as soon as we were in the kitchen with the door closed.

"I don't know yet."

"What did you do with the uncle?"

"What do you think?"

Dwayne grinned. Then he sobered quickly. "What you said to Edgar earlier, about you; was that true?"

My eyes narrowed. "Yes, it's true."

"Was it Max?"

"You don't need to know about that. He's dead, isn't he?"

"Is that why you killed him?"

I scowled. Dwayne raised his hands. "I won't mention it again. I'm sorry, though. I never would have known."

"I didn't intend for you to know. That's why I kept you and Paul and Marko away from him. So you'd be safe."

"Shit." Dwayne shook his head. "Now I understand about Edgar. Why you helped him."

"What happens next is up to him," I said. "He can go home to the store and his mother, or he can stay here. I don't think the mother cares that much."

"Stay here? Amongst a bunch of vampires he hates?"

"I think he hates us a little bit less after tonight. Besides, sounds like he's hitting it off with the others." Star's laughter drifted through the house, and Laddie could be heard squealing and giggling. "We'll see."

I took some bottles of soda out of the refrigerator and headed back to the lounge room. I didn't know what Edgar liked to drink, but Star and Laddie liked cherry cola. Michael preferred lemonade. I handed the bottles around, then offered Edgar a choice. He took coke.

"I can open it for you," Laddie said, and proceeded to show off his superhuman strength by tearing the metal cap from Edgar's bottle with his teeth. "How cool is that? Don't you want to be like us?"

"Um, yeah, it's cool." Edgar smiled at the kid, then shot a wary glance at me.

"Don't worry," I mouthed.

As the night wore on, Edgar began to yawn. Star sent Laddie to bed in the small room allocated to him for whenever we were at the house. Then Star and Michael went to their room.

"I thought you all lived in the cavern," Edgar said. "Vampires like dark, dank places with a history of suffering, don't they?"

Dwayne grinned. "You've done your research. Yeah, we do, but we often keep a regular house as well."

"For luring your victims." Edgar cringed. "I thought you said you wouldn't hurt me."

"We're not going to. That's not what this is." I sat down next to him.

"But Laddie said—"

"He's a kid. This is all exciting to him. It's like being a character in one of his comics."

"Why did you even change a child?"

"It wasn't us. One of the others you killed last year bit him. We found him when he was still alive, but he was half vampire by then. He'll never age now, but he'll grow more mature. Then he can decide for himself whether he wants to stay as he is or change fully."

"Okay." Edgar nodded. "Isn't this Max's house?"

"It was. He's dead," I told him. "Didn't you know that?"

"Yes, I knew. I just didn't know you stayed here."

"He didn't have anyone to leave it to, so we took it over. There's no mortgage on it or anything. He wasn't officially alive so there were no records or paperwork to sort out. We don't come here that often, but the cavern isn't a great place for you to be. You have a choice, Edgar, but I would suggest you sleep on it and think about what you want to do tomorrow. You can go back home to your mother and carry on running the store, or you can stay here. None of us will hurt you, like I said."

"Are you sure he's gone?" He met my eyes, his wide and hopeful.

"I'm sure. Do you want the details?"

"David," Dwayne said warningly.

Edgar glanced at him. "It's okay. I do want the details. I want to know exactly what happened so I can be sure… well, that he's really gone."

"Edgar." I touched his arm and he turned to look at me again. "I went into the apartment above the store. He was waiting for you, so he was pretty shocked to see me there. I picked him up by the throat, then I bit him."

"David!" Dwayne hissed.

"Please, go on," Edgar urged.

"I drained out every drop. He died right there. There's no mess, you don't have to worry about that. Then I took his body and dropped it in the sea. The tide is on the way out. He'll be long gone by morning."

Edgar nodded. Tears sprang into his eyes and he brushed them away. "Can I go to bed now, please?"

"Sure. I'll show you one of the guest rooms." I got up and he followed me upstairs. "There's the bathroom." I pointed at a partly open door. "If it's closed, someone's in there. We leave it open otherwise."

"Do vampires even use the bathroom?" he asked curiously.

I snorted. "Yeah. We still eat and drink, right? And we shower, otherwise we'd smell pretty unpleasant."

"I guess."

"That's Laddie's room." I pointed at a closed door. "That one's Star and Michael's. Those two down the end are empty. You can pick which one you want."

"Which is yours?"

"I, um, don't really have one." The last time I'd slept in the house, I'd been with Star and Michael. "I usually sleep in the cavern during the day," I added.

"Right. I'll take that one, then." He indicated one of the doors, then opened it.

I reached past him and flicked the light switch. The room had a double bed, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. The bed was made up with plain black sheets which had never been slept in, at least not since we took over the house.

He glanced at me, his heartrate picking up, suddenly anxious. He hovered, fidgeting, opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and bit his lip.

"No one will disturb you," I said quietly. "The door has a lock on it, if you want to use it."

"It wouldn't stop a vampire, though, right?" He huffed out a nervous laugh.

"Edgar, no one will hurt you. You're safe here," I said again. "None of us will bite you or try to touch you. Dwayne will go back to the cavern. I'll be in that other room down the far end." I pointed behind me. "When dawn comes, we'll all be sleeping like the dead, so it's up to you if you leave or not. Don't disturb us after that point."

He nodded. "I know." He licked his lips and swallowed. "Thank you."

"If you're not here at dusk, I'll drop by the store and look for you," I added. "Check you're okay."

"I still don't know why you're doing this. You mentioned something earlier. Dwayne looked kind of shocked."

"He didn't expect me to bring it up. Max did some stuff to me, so I recognised what was going on with you pretty quickly. I'm not gonna tell you about it now, it's the last thing you need to hear."

"I'm sorry." Suddenly, he looked at me differently. "Is that why you killed him?"

"Yes. It's also why I changed. I wasn't strong enough to fight him off when I was human. I asked him to change me. Then I staked him."

"You staked a vampire?"

"Ironic, huh?" I gave him a brief smile. "Go to bed."

"Yeah. Good night." He backed into the room and closed the door.

I went to the room at the end of the landing and lay on the bed fully clothed. The thick black curtains would shut out any hint of light when dawn came. I stared at the ceiling, unblinking, thinking about Edgar. I could hear him fifty feet away through two closed doors, tossing and turning, smothering his crying in the pillow. I clenched my fists and bit through my bottom lip with my fangs, swallowing my own blood. Every fibre of my body yearned to get up and go to him, but I fought it and stayed where I was. I'd promised to leave him alone; promised no one would hurt him. If I went into his room even to check he was okay, I'd betray his trust and he'd freak out. So, I lay there, listening to him, and cursing the corpse I'd tossed into the sea. There was nothing else I could do.