My eyes snapped open and I snarled, fangs extended. Yesterday had been the worst day I'd had since I killed Max. I didn't really think about what happened before I killed him very much anymore. Vampires had the ability to block things out so completely that they ceased to be a problem. But seeing someone else suffering the same way I had brought it all back in a glaringly bright film-reel in my head. That look on Edgar's uncle's face had been on Max's when he looked at me, right before he grabbed me and… overpowered me. He didn't even try and coax me into going along with it. He was stronger and he wanted what he wanted, so he took it. Until I changed.

I catapulted from the bed and slammed my fist through the bedroom door before I could stop myself. Then I pulled my hand back, grimacing. "Shit, you idiot. Calm down."

"David?" Dwayne opened the door.

"Yeah, I know, I'm out of control." I rolled my eyes.

"I was going to ask if you're okay. Clearly not."

"What happened yesterday just brought back some stuff in my head, that's all. I'm fine. Have you seen Edgar tonight?"

"No, he's gone." He indicated the open door at the other end of the landing. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything?"

"Don't try counselling me, Dwayne," I growled. "I said I'm fine."

"No, you're not. But I'll stay out of it. I'm not gonna say anything to the others, by the way."

"I know you wouldn't. Who else is here?"

"No one. Michael and Star took Laddie out a few minutes ago."

"Right. I'm going to check he's okay." He'd know I meant Edgar. I took a shower and changed my clothes, then made my way to the comic book store on foot.

Everything looked normal. The lights were on, a couple of customers were in browsing the comics, and Edgar was putting out some new stock. I waited until the two girls had picked out something and paid for it, then went over to him.

"How are you?"

He looked up, eyes bloodshot and with dark shadows underneath. I doubted he'd slept. "Better than yesterday." His lips twitched, but he didn't manage to smile.

"Have you seen your mother?"

"Yeah. I just said I locked up like normal and went up to bed. That I didn't see him. She checked his room and all his stuff is there. She thinks he went off on a bender somewhere." He glanced around, making sure no one else was nearby. "I'm gonna wait a couple of days until she's out again, then pack up all his stuff and get rid of it. He doesn't have much. She'll just think he left."

"That's good."

"He's always been unreliable."

"Right. What about you?"

"I'm staying here. Thanks, though. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't—"

"But I did, so you don't have to think about it anymore."

"I can't stop thinking about it. How do you put something like that behind you?" His voice shook.

"It's easier when you're like me. We can shut stuff away and it's like it never happened."

"Shit. Maybe I should get you to change me then." He laughed harshly. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"You know where we are if you need us. If we're not at the house, we'll be in the cavern."

Edgar nodded. "I need to get back to work. I'm okay. Really."

"Sure. I'll see you, then. You should take up your friend's offer, you know. Hang out with him sometimes. Don't be alone, Edgar." I turned and left the store, as reluctant as I'd ever been to do anything, but there was nothing more to say. I couldn't keep hanging around him. I'd fixed his immediate problem and there wasn't much I could do about his thoughts. He'd have to work his way through it or talk to somebody. Maybe that would be me sometime, because he knew I knew what it was like, but he would have to decide that.

"That was quick. Is he okay?" Dwayne found me on the boardwalk a minute later.

"Yeah, he's staying with his mother."

"That's probably for the best."

"Yeah, he's going to pack up the uncle's stuff and get rid of it, make it look like he took off. Apparently, he does that."

We walked away to get food and I did what I'd done before, and what I'd done only that morning—I shut my thoughts down where they wouldn't bother me. I couldn't let myself think about Edgar because unless he came to me, there wasn't anything more I could do.

…..…...

A few weeks later, Dwayne and I both found lovers. His was a pretty blonde girl; mine looked similar, but wasn't. Blonde hair, pretty face all made up, slightly enhanced chest although that could have been the bodice of the dress, an obvious Adam's apple and no hips to speak of. When I got under the clothes, he was all man, he just liked to dress different. I could work with that.

Dwayne told his girl what we were within a few days and gave her the choice of sticking around or running for the hills. She stayed, but she didn't want to change, and she wouldn't let him leave her alone with any of the rest of us. My guy, Stevie, found out by accident after three weeks. He lived with his sister so we couldn't fuck at his place, and I'd taken him back to the house several times each week. He turned up during the day when I was sleeping and tried to wake me.

Waking a vampire during the day isn't wise, especially when you've opened the fucking black-out curtains. I shot out of the room in a screaming, hissing fit of pain, eyes yellow, fangs out, and gouged holes in the walls along the landing with my fingernails, before I dived into the bed Edgar used that one night and pulled the sheet over my head. Stevie fled and I never saw him again, unsurprisingly. It didn't bother me that much. He'd been fun, but I hadn't been tempted to try and change him and keep him with me.

When I woke at dusk, I hunted, then walked alone on the beach. It was past two in the morning when I saw him, sitting in roughly the same place Marko and Paul had found him before when he was bleeding. A number of bottles were scattered around him and as I watched, he pulled a fresh one from a bag that lay beside him. He picked up a bottle opener and clumsily attempted to pry the cap off the bottle.

"I think you've had enough, don't you?" I took both the bottle and the opener from his hands.

"Leave me alone," he slurred.

"Why are you drinking?" It was a stupid question. He was drinking to block it out in the only way he could think of.

"Fuck off, David." Edgar reached for the bottle and when I wouldn't give it to him, he took another one out of the bag. Without the bottle opener, he had no way of opening it. He glanced around him, smashed the neck off the bottle with a stone, and lifted it to his mouth.

"Shit, stop!" Thankfully, a vampire is a lot faster than a drunken boy. I snatched the bottle from him and tossed it as far away as I could, then dropped to my knees on the sand and grabbed his wrists so he couldn't do anything else. "You're gonna hurt yourself."

"And?" He pulled feebly against my hold. "Let go."

"I'm taking you back to the house to sober you up." I got up again and tugged him to his feet. He could barely stand, his knees sagging, eyes rolling. "Edgar." I smacked his face gently. "Come on."

He belched and grimaced. "Gonna be sick."

"Fuck." I turned him away from me and held him up as he puked about as much as I'd ever seen a human puke. I expected it was mostly beer—at least eight empty bottles lay at our feet. When he'd finished vomiting, he passed out. I scooped him up into my arms just in time to stop him falling in the patch of wet sand in front of him. "Jesus Christ. Fucking alcohol. What the fuck am I gonna do with you?"

Edgar lay limply in my arms, head lolling back over my bicep. He looked so fucking young and helpless and I had no clue how to deal with someone who was drunk. Shit. I couldn't very well take him to his mother like this, if she was even home. I held him tighter, gripping him securely so he wouldn't fall, and took off into the sky. Less than five minutes later, I was fumbling open the rear door of the house, trying not to drop Edgar who was still unconscious. Much to my relief, Star and Michael were there, having a romantic picnic on the lounge room floor, which I was about to ruin.

"Star! Help?" I sidled through the door, trying not to bang Edgar's head on the jamb, and carried him to the couch.

Star and Michael jumped up, Star quickly fastening her blouse. It didn't even occur to me to say anything rude. "What happened?" she gasped.

"He drank about eight bottles of beer. He puked most of it back up again, then passed out."

"Michael, get some water and maybe some milk to line his stomach," Star said. "My dad drank a lot. He used to have milk before he went out, so he didn't get sick as much. Then he drank water before he went to bed, so he didn't suffer in the morning. I guess both of those will help Edgar."

Michael returned in a second with two large glasses, one of water and one of milk, and a bucket. He passed them to Star as she propped Edgar up with several cushions under his head and shoulders. "Where was he?" Michael asked.

"On the beach. Looked like he'd been there a while." I scratched my head, feeling like a spare part. I wasn't much use, but I didn't want to leave either. Star was patting Edgar's face, coaxing him to open his eyes and sip some water.

Michael came over to me. "My brother's been trying to get Edgar to hang out with him. They used to be best friends. Edgar keeps making excuses, saying he's too busy or too tired or something. A couple of times, he hasn't even opened the store."

"Where's his mother?" I asked. "Do you know?"

"She's got a new boyfriend. She stays away for days at a time and expects Edgar to run the store twelve hours a day or more. He should be in school. He was in Sam's class; Alan was a couple of years ahead of them. When he, um, died, Edgar dropped out of school."

"Shit." I shook my head. "He needs someone to take care of him."

"Yeah, clearly." Michael huffed out a breath. "I could ask my mom. Maybe if he's away from all this, with a proper home, and a kind of stand-in mom and brother, it'd help."

All the others knew what had happened to Edgar. Dwayne had filled them in with a brief outline of events after Edgar spent the night at the house. Every one of them promised never to mention it to Edgar in the future.

"Do you think she'd go for it?" I asked.

"Probably. She's always been the type to help waifs and strays. Always brought home lost pets, and kids whose folks were out at work late. I'll go and talk to her."

"It's the middle of the night," I reminded him.

"I meant later." He sneered slightly. "Why are we doing this, by the way? I thought you hated the Frogs."

"He's a kid with no one else to help," I said shortly.

"Ha."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just something Dwayne said."

My hair stood on end. Dwayne wouldn't tell anyone. I knew he wouldn't. "About what?"

"You being soft when the need arises. Shame we didn't see any of that a few weeks ago. You knew me and Star wanted to be together."

"And you are."

"But there was a price, wasn't there? To begin with. So long as you got what you wanted, we could have what we wanted."

"Leave it. This isn't the time. Be glad you're not paying any more." I moved away from him as Edgar looked up at me.

"What am I doing here?" he asked, before bending over and puking up all the water he'd drunk into the bucket.