Eventually, Edgar started to sober up. He stopped vomiting and Star managed to get the water and milk down him, followed by some simple crackers. He looked terrible, huddled on the couch, refusing to talk to any of us. As dawn approached, we had to decide on what we were going to do.

"Go to bed," I told Star.

"Are you sure? You'll need to sleep soon. I can stay up."

"There's no need. Go on."

She and Michael went upstairs, leaving me alone with Edgar. The others were all back at the cavern. They'd be wondering what had happened, but there was no way of letting them know. There was no telephone there.

"You need to get some sleep," I told Edgar.

"I will. I'm fine here."

"I want to talk to you first and I can't stay in here much longer." I pointed at the window where a hint of orange was beginning to show. "We don't have blackout drapes down here."

"Okay." Edgar rose slowly and shuffled out of the room, dragging his feet. He went upstairs, one step at a time, holding onto the rail, and made his way to the room he'd used before. He got in the bed without a word and curled up on his side.

I sat on the end of the end of the bed, cross-legged. "Is this the first time you did this?" I asked.

"No."

"Does it help?"

"For a few hours. What's your point?"

"You need some proper help. Drinking yourself stupid won't fix this."

"Got a better idea?" He sounded almost like his old self as he sneered sarcastically.

"Yeah, I do actually. Michael's gonna ask his mom if you can stay with her and Sam. What do you think?"

"No," Edgar grunted.

"Why not?"

"I already got a mother."

"And where is she, huh? You didn't tell her what happened—"

"Of course I didn't. What was I gonna say? Hey, Mom, Uncle Robert kept trying to fuck me like he did Alan, but it's all okay now, because this vampire I know killed him?"

The two words that stood out to me were "trying to." So, it hadn't gone that far? Whatever had happened was bad enough but thank fuck it hadn't been that.

"David?"

"Yeah. I know you couldn't tell her. But did you try before—?"

"Yes, I did once. She thought I was making trouble because I didn't like having another father figure around. I tried to tell her why Alan killed himself and she wouldn't listen. She thought he was on drugs."

"Was he?"

"Maybe. I don't know. If he was, he hid it well. But I'm not going to stay with the Emersons. I'm fine on my own."

"You're not. You're a sixteen-year-old kid with no one on your side that I can see."

"I thought you were on my side."

"I am."

"So, let me get on with it, then. You're not my dad. You're… I don't even know what you are."

"I'm your friend," I said firmly.

"Okay. You're my friend. So was Sam. He won't listen either when I say I want to be left alone."

"He just wants to help, Edgar. He cares about you. He doesn't even know about any of this, but he knows something's going on."

"Well, I'm not telling him. You tell him whatever the fuck you like." Edgar reached up suddenly and gripped the bottom of the drapes. "Are you gonna leave me alone to sleep, or do I have to pull this down?"

"All right. Go to sleep." I got off the bed and backed towards the door. "Just think about what I said. No one can live completely alone, not even me. Especially not with all of this shit to deal with." I slipped out of the door and closed it. Edgar didn't make another sound.

I went to my room quickly, tore off my clothes, and dived into the bed moments before the sleep of the dead took me. I didn't move a muscle until dusk, then I opened my eyes, rolled over, and stretched. I hoped Edgar would still be in the house, but I knew in my heart he wouldn't be. I scrubbed my hands over my face, then hauled myself up and went to take a shower. The house was quiet and apparently Michael and Star had already gone out.

When I got to the boardwalk, I found the other vampires together. They'd seen Michael and Star and heard what happened. Apparently, Michael had gone out early in the morning to see his mother and told them she'd be willing to take Edgar in if he would agree to it, and if Mrs Frog didn't put up a fight. Dwayne said Michael had merely told his mother Sam's best friend was struggling after his brother's death and that his mother was never there, leaving him to run the store by himself, and that he'd dropped out of school.

I headed for the comic book store, and found Michael and Sam there talking to Edgar. He seemed to be ignoring them, unpacking a box of comics and checking them off against a stock list. He looked up as I approached.

"Another one. Great. What is this? The fucking rehoming-Edgar army?"

"Don't be like that," Sam said in his whiny voice. "We just want to help."

"I don't need help," Edgar growled.

"You can't go on like this, especially not now your mother's gone," Michael told him.

"What? Where's she gone?" I asked him.

"San Francisco," Michael muttered.

"What the hell? Edgar?" I stepped passed the others and gripped him by the shoulders, forcing him to stop messing around with the comics and look at me. "Your mother left?"

"Yeah." He swallowed.

"When?"

"Today. Her boyfriend's a wannabe actor and he's got some part in a movie that's filming there."

"How long has she gone for?"

He shrugged. "Six months, maybe."

"Jesus." I glanced behind me at Michael and jerked my head at the door. He took the hint and steered a protesting Sam out of the store.

"Sit." I pressed Edgar onto the chair in front of the cash register and dropped to my haunches in front of him. I had no idea what I was doing, or what to say for the best, but I would just have to do the best I could.

"What do you want, David?" He sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his face. He looked awful—pale skin, purple shadows under his eyes, the beginnings of a shadow of fluff around his chin, and he was wearing the same clothes I'd last seen him in.

"I want to make sure you're gonna be okay, that's all. Michael's right; you can't go on like this. You're too young to be dealing with this by yourself, trying to run the store, living alone."

"It's none of your business."

"I'm making it my business. I'm your friend, remember? So is Sam; so is Michael."

"Stop bugging me. I'm okay." He avoided my eyes.

"How about I make you a deal? Give it a shot for, say, a month, staying with Sam and his mom. If you do that, I'll quit bugging you."

"Why do you even care?"

"You know why. I was older than you, but it didn't make it any less tough. I didn't have anyone on my side—not a single person. You do, so you should stop pushing them away."

"I don't want to talk about it," Edgar grunted.

"I know you don't. I'm not trying to make you talk. I want you to take the offer on the table and let somebody watch out for you, that's all. Your mother might not give a shit about you, but I do, and from what I hear, Mrs Emerson would, too."

His eyes widened. "Does she know?"

"No. Michael just told her your mother's never around, and things are tough after you lost Alan."

Edgar closed his eyes for a second and rubbed his hands over his face again. "Just a month?"

"To start with." I grinned. "What do you say?"

"She'll make me go to school." He grimaced.

"Probably. Is that so bad? Quitting school at fifteen isn't great."

"Seriously? I hated school. It was pointless. I doubt you went."

"I went until I was eighteen and got all my exams." I nodded to emphasise the point. "Granted, I haven't used them for anything, but if I hadn't become this—" I tapped my chest, "—I'd have had much more available to me than if I'd quit without any qualifications."

"Christ, you don't give up, do you?" Edgar glanced around him. "What about the store?"

"When do most of your customers come in?"

"Evenings and weekends."

"Well, they won't miss it during the day, then."

"Fine." Edgar rolled his eyes. "I'll stay with the Emersons if it gets you off my back."

I beamed. "Awesome!"

"Whoever heard of a fucking vampire making someone go to school? Jesus," Edgar muttered.

I just smiled wider. I'd got the result I wanted—he wouldn't be alone anymore. I went outside to find Michael and Sam. They looked despondent and resigned.

"He's gonna move in," I said.

"Really?" Sam said sceptically. "How'd you do that, huh?"

"I made him a deal. A month and see how it goes."

"Thanks." Michael nodded. "I'll go and tell Mom. He can come over to the house tonight when he finishes in the store. I'm gonna stay there for a few days, too."

"I'm going to hang out with him." Sam went back into the store.

"Why do you even care about Edgar Frog?" Michael asked me.

"I don't particularly," I lied. "But no one should have to go through that shit. Especially not a kid."

"Yeah, you're right, I just never expected you to step into this kind of thing."

"Well, then, you don't know me very well, do you?"

"I've only seen the other side of you." He grimaced.

I shrugged. "I keep it well hidden. I'm gonna take off." I left him and went to find some food.

I didn't see Michael after that for a few days, or Edgar and Sam. Michael stayed at his family's house and Star visited sometimes. I stayed away from the store until the next weekend, but when I went there to see Edgar on Saturday night, Sam was with him. Luckily, he was talking to a customer and pointing out comics on a shelf by the door. I approached Edgar, who was alone near the cash register.

"Hey. How's it going?"

He glared, the same way he always had. He looked a little better—the dark circles under his eyes were less, but he was still pale and seemed to have lost weight.

"Things okay at the Emerson house?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose," he said grudgingly.

"How's school?"

"Fuck off."

I grinned. "That good?"

"Look, I'm going, aren't I? I'm doing what you wanted. I don't have to like it. I thought you were gonna leave me alone."

"I said I wouldn't bug you. That doesn't include checking how you are." I leaned in close and sniffed his hair, catching the scent of something that wasn't beer, but was definitely alcohol. "What have you been drinking?"

"Coke." He curled his lip. "Don't push your luck, David. You don't get to tell me what to do anymore now I'm in the care of a responsible adult."

"Whatever. Take care of yourself." I left him alone.

For the next few weeks I stayed away from the store. I found myself a new lover. Dwayne's was now long gone, but he'd had a few casual encounters, as had Marko and Paul. I hadn't—not since I scared the living daylights out of Stevie. I tried a girl for a night and ended up killing her. My mind drifted while I was going at it and my fangs emerged. The second she saw them, she screamed loud enough to wake the dead and the fastest way to deal with it was to bite her. The next time, with a guy, the same thing happened. I forced my stupid mind to shut down after that. Edgar Frog was in my thoughts far too much, and when the question of whether he was okay popped into my head when I was fucking, that was too creepy even for me. I stopped thinking about him and stayed off the boardwalk completely.

A few months passed before he crossed my mind again in more than a passing thought, and that was when I turned up at the house and found him there, sprawled out on the couch, comatose, with an empty bottle of rum beside him.