She awoke in the room naked and alone, She couldn't remember going to sleep or David leaving or anything really. She knew she'd had sex with him but anything other than that was lost to her. She went to sit up and felt a deep pain in her neck and she shot her hand up to feel it and found her neck and chest covered in thick, sticky dried blood with deep puncture wounds in her throat. What had David done to her? Had he tried to kill her? No, she'd be dead if he'd tried to finish her. She looked around wondering where he was. She had to get changed before Laddie saw her and freaked out so she crept out into the main cave only to find it empty, no boys or Laddie to be seen. She found herself there alone and there was something odd about it, David always knew where she was and here she could disappear out of the cave and he'd be none the wiser.

'Don't even think about it.' David's voice echoed in her head and she involuntarily shivered. She got some clothes out and thought about how she was going to clean herself up. She decided she would duck down to the bay just around from the Bluff and wash down there, she had no idea when everyone would be back but she had to get this blood off of her. He couldn't blame her for wanting to get rid of the evidence of what he'd done to her, he would want her to do that, surely. She flew down to the beach and was happy she found the place was empty and she quickly undressed and got into the water. Dunking her head under the water, she washed the sticky mess out of her hair and as she ran her hands over her hair and down her neck, she noticed the puncture wounds had gone and it surprised her. She didn't know that vampires healed up so quickly and it made her wonder what wounds the boys had suffered that she had no idea of. She looked up at the sky and the moon was higher than she was expecting which meant it was later than she'd anticipated. It also meant they would be back sooner than she thought so she got out of the water and made her way back up to the pile of clothes she'd left on the beach, when she heard the familiar sound of a smooth deep voice.

'Did I tell you you could leave the cave?' She jumped at the harshness of David's tone and she ran to grab her clothing to cover herself. 'Freeze.' He demanded of her and she stopped and looked at him. 'Answer me.'

'No.' She said feeling horribly exposed.

'No?' He leaned forward.

'No you didn't tell me I could leave.' She looked down feeling like a petulant child. 'I only came down here to clean up David, I had blood all over me.' She felt humiliated and pleaded her case.

'I know you did, I put it there. Now get your ass back to the cave and get ready. We're going out.' He turned and walked back towards the street and she ran to put her clothing back on and kicked it back to the cave. The boys pretty much ignored her when she got back but Laddie came running up to her.

'Star! Where were you? Look what Paul got for me!' He showed her a small stack of new comic books.

'Wow, that's awesome Laddie.' She said and he looked at her strangely.

'What's that on your top? Why is your hair wet?' His questions were a bit much for her right now and she told him to wait a minute so she could go and get changed. She sat on her bed once she was changed and scrunched her hair with a small towel she had from the former hotel, while the boys sat and talked. Laddie came over to her again and sat next to her, putting his hand under her arm.

'Are you OK?' He asked her and she gave him a weak smile.

'Yes, I'm OK. Are you OK?'

'Yep, Paul and Dwayne said they would go on the rollercoaster with me tonight.' He said, smiling.

'Oh nice.' At least they were still treating him well and he seemed, for the most part, unaffected by the whole situation.

'You ready?' David solicited her attention and she put her jewellery and make up on and grabbed her jacket and walked out to where the boys stood around waiting. David gave her an unimpressed look and walked out, the boys ushering her to go before them. They rode to the Boardwalk and Paul and Dwayne took off with Laddie to the Big Dipper and left her with Marko and a very dark David, both of them being poor prospects for her tonight. She followed them, walking slightly behind them, and tried to detach herself from the atmosphere David was creating.

'You have some fans.' David said to her and she looked up at him. 'I want you to coax them down the Riverwalk near San Lorenzo in an hour.' He suddenly said and her heart sank. Why would he want her to bring anyone to meet him other than to kill them? Did he know them? Was this going to be another San Francisco?

'Why?' She regretted saying it as soon as the word left her lips.

'Because I asked you to.' His expression changed and she knew he was done and he walked off with Marko, leaving her there alone. She looked around awkwardly and instantly saw the group of guys he was talking about staring at her. She felt sick having to do this again, especially after the last time, and she decided she needed a drink to even begin to deal with being in this situation again. She walked away from them towards one of the only bars on the Boardwalk and stood at the bar top, putting her head in her hands.

'What can I get ya?' The barman asked her.

'Ah… Can I have a vodka lemonade please?' The bartender looked at her suspiciously and she feared he was going to ask for some ID. He, for whatever reason, decided against it and he turned to make the drink and she suddenly remembered she had no money and would have to try and compel him to give it to her, and she really didn't feel very compelling right now.

'Courtesy of the gentleman over there.' She looked down the bar to see a guy in a suit raise his glass at her.

'You look like you need it!' He called across the bar and she smiled.

'Thank you.' She called back and he went back to talking with his buddy. She drank her drink and it was nice and strong and she lingered in the place, probably a little longer than she should have. She really didn't want to do this. When she finally left, she walked down towards the crowd at the stage and she hoped the group of guys had disappeared but no such luck. She looked over to her right and they were there, two of them watching her. What did they want? Did they not see her with Marko and David? Didn't that put them off or did they want to die? She smiled at them, it was getting late and it was time for her to put her game face on. She would rather dupe these guys now than feel David's wrath for not following through on his instructions later. Within minutes one of them had approached her, the others following.

'Hi there.' He said to her, leaning in a little too close.

'Hello.' She said, looking at the guy then over to his friends.

'We saw you over near the entrance a little while ago. Was that your boyfriend you were with?' She subtly shook her head. She wished he wasn't her boyfriend anymore.

'Good, Joel said one of them looked like your boyfriend but I didn't think you would see someone like that, you're far too hot for him.' The main one said to her.

'Which one?' She asked.

'Huh?' The boy named Joel said.

'Which on did you think was my boyfriend?' She repeated.

'The blonde one with the long black jacket. He had that vibe.' She nodded and looked away. 'So, who are they then?'

'Just friends.' She said, getting bored of this already. These guys were just kids.

'Friends?' He asked.

'Yeah. They supply me with things.' She said smelling weed coming off them and figuring that could be the pull to get all of them to go with her.

'What kind of things?' One of the others asked, a little more enthusiastic now they were on to a subject he was more interested in. She shrugged her shoulders.

'What are you after? Paul has a range of supplies.' She said losing her momentum in engaging with them as the seconds passed. The main guy put his arm around her and she shrank away from him. She didn't want him touching her.

'Is it good? Like quality stuff?' Joel asked her and she nodded, making him smile.

'How about we hook up with your mate Paul and then you and I go off and get better acquainted?' That really didn't sound appealing to her. Was this how this guy came on to chicks?

'I wasn't going to see him again tonight.' She said.

'Come on, we'll be with you so you won't have to stay long.' The one named Joel said. You meet them, you won't be staying alive long she thought.

'Look Joel, it's a really bad idea. I'd just rather stay away from them tonight.' She said trying to back out of what she'd begun. 'I don't even know you, they are not going to be happy with me just bringing total strangers to them to buy drugs.' She shook her head. 'That's not cool.'

'Oh, well I'm Brad, this is Shaun, Steve and this is Joel.' He said introducing them. They remained nameless faces to her. She didn't care what their names were, they were just going to end up dead anyways.

'What's your name?' Brad asked.

'Star.' She said, resigning herself to the fact she was going to have to go through with this whether she liked it or not.

'Star. There you go, we all know each other. Let's go see your friends, get some shit and then we can go somewhere else and get to know each other a little better.' Brad said, sounding really sleazy and she tried to control her facial reaction to his comment.

'Are your friends still here?' Steve asked her.

'They are down by the river.' She said. 'Wait, how old are you guys?' She asked and their ages came back between eighteen and twenty.

'Why?' Brad asked.

'Just wondering.' She said. Just wondering how old the guys are whom she was leading to their deaths and how much potential life David would be taking from them. They walked down towards the Riverwalk Bridge and they talked about random shit between themselves which she tuned out. She couldn't believe she was doing this again and she was feeling sick about it. Once they arrived there, she looked around and, being unable to see them, she was relieved and about to tell them the boys had gone, when Paul's laughter rang out and she heard them under the Riverwalk Bridge, down on the sand by the water.

'Come on.' She said, and she led them down the bank towards where the boys were and as soon as the she walked down, David turned to look at her and she was sure he knew she'd been there the whole time. She walked up quietly and stood there, unsure of what to do.

'Star?' David said to her stepping forward.

'Ahh… Hi. These guys were wanting to score something from Paul.' Paul moved to stand near David and David looked them over, judging them as only David could, then with a half-smile appearing on his lips, he looked back at her. Brad then did the worst thing he could have done and he placed his arm around her shoulder and David's smile melted. Star cringed at his touch and she looked at David, silently begging him to stop this.

'Well… What are you after? Aside from my girl?' David asked and Dwayne and Marko gathered a little closer as the mood changed. Star closed her eyes knowing exactly where this was going, and she looked around and spotted Laddie sitting right up under the bridge platform. He was watching the boys and she wanted to go to him, she was desperate for him not to see what was inevitably going to happen. Picking up on David's change, Brad dropped his arm from Star's shoulders and he looked at her.

'I thought you said you weren't with any of these guys?' She heard him say but she kept her eyes on the ground, not wanting to see Brad's look of betrayal or any look coming from David.

'Listen, all we wanted was to get something to get high with and this chick said you could supply.' Joel said. 'That's it. We don't want your girl, do we Brad?' Brad looked from Star to Joel and said a non-committal no.

'Yeah, we can supply.' She heard Paul say and she looked up and was met with David's icy cold stare. 'Come here, I got something for you.' Paul said to Joel and Joel walked over to him and Star began to step away towards Laddie. She wanted to scream for them to run, to get away but it was too late as Joel emitted a deep pitched yell while Paul ripped a large hole in his shoulder and wrenched his head around, snapping his neck. Dwayne and Marko turned instantly and grabbed Shaun and Steve, making bloody messes of them on the sand. Star ran to grab Laddie, whose eyes were wide with shock but also, she saw they displayed the distinct red ring and yellow hue shining through.

'Star! Star!' He began screaming and she picked him up and ran out onto the riverbed, flying off with him in her arms. She held him tight all the way back to the cave and didn't let him go once they were there. The poor boy was shaking and she tried in vain to comfort him.

'It's alright.' She said holding him and stroking his hair.

'No, what are they? What were they doing? Were they eating them?!' He scrambled to get his words out.

'It's alright, they're not going to hurt you. Remember what I told you? I won't let them hurt you.'

'But they…'

'Laddie,' she pulled him away and looked into his eyes, 'I won't let them hurt you. OK? I promise.' She hugged him again and held him until he had calmed down, the same way Dwayne had with her. She sat there with him laying on her chest for what seemed like ages, hating David for doing this to a child, and hating herself for allowing this to happen. Not that she had any power over David or over what he did, but she could have done something instead of just standing there. Suddenly Laddie stood and went to pick up his pile of new comics and his teddy bear and he climbed into his bed. She went to tuck him in and asked him if he was OK now and he nodded and she kissed him on his forehead then turned to walk away.

'Star?' She turned back to look at him. 'Even though they scared me, I liked it when Paul made him bleed.' She froze, not wanting to hear what he was saying. 'Am I going to be like them one day?' She looked at him with a flat expression, she wanted to scream and cry but she stood there.

'No. Go to sleep Laddie.' She walked to her bed and curled up into a ball, disbelieving what Laddie had just said to her and over the next ten minutes she tried to calm both herself and her thoughts down but it wasn't happening so she sat up. She looked over towards Laddie and saw he'd crashed so she decided she would try find some of Paul's smoke to try to settle herself. Maybe this was why they smoked so much. She put one of Paul's rock ballad tapes on and searched around for Paul's stash and, once she found it, she rolled herself a rather large messy joint. She sat in the main cave on one of the couches and sparked it, making herself cough harshly. The smoke worked quickly and before she was even half way through it, she was as smashed as she imagined Paul gets and her thoughts began to wander. Seeing Laddie's eyes change and what he'd just said had deeply disturbed her and she was scared that he would change before she had a chance to save him. He was still so young and his desire to please Dwayne, combined with his need for acceptance by Paul and Marko and his fear of David, would have him killing someone within weeks and she couldn't sit by and have that happen. They'd scared him and now getting him to do as they wanted would be easier than ever. She would never allow it to happen and even if it killed her, she would protect him from the evil that dwelled inside those boys. That dwelled inside her, and she would never knowingly lead anyone to them again either. The guilt over those four boys, and of Raoul too, was eating her alive. Her own weakness was concerning her too, more often than not when David would kiss her, she could taste the metallic tang lingering from his feeds and she was finding that she was no longer disgusted by the taste but rather enchanted by it and was even wanting more of it. David was still pressuring her but not openly, he was subtly pushing her by doing things like projecting his satisfaction when he killed onto her and kissing her just after feeding and it was working. But other than pushing her to kill and having sex with her on his terms, he was largely ignoring her now and he barely spoke to her other than to tell her what to do, which left her feeling very alone. She didn't know if it was because she was resisting his urges for her to kill or because she'd done something wrong but he still was overly controlling of her and still wouldn't allow her to do many things which had her feeling like a possession more than a girlfriend. She once thought he had love for her but now she questioned whether he ever really loved her. She'd over heard that when the boys went out without her, Paul, Marko and Dwayne all hooked up with random chicks, all of which probably ended up dead, and she wondered if David ever did too. He would rip her apart should she do the same thing yet he had the freedom to do whatever he pleased and this was exactly the type of relationship she didn't want to be in. She had concluded that for anything to get any better for her, she was going to have to give in to him and turn or die. The only pleasure she truly had right now was when she was on the Boardwalk with Laddie where she felt free. In reality, it was a perceived freedom and not real but she enjoyed it all the same. It made her feel normal and just like other people and she loved immersing herself into the crowds and melting away the dangerous thoughts with the rock streaming out from the large speakers at the stage. Nobody looked at her differently, except when she was with the boys, and she'd even managed to catch a few of the tourist's eyes and found that they would look at her the same way David had when he first met her and that gave her hope, hope that one day she might have a chance at love, true love, with a normal man and not a monster. Hope that she could escape from all this and maybe one day fall in love, get married and she could live happily ever after. She knew she was dreaming and there was no way this could ever become a reality because David would never let it happen but surely there must be a way. Vampires could die couldn't they?

0o0

The boys appeared in the cave entrance and she sat up quickly, afraid to be caught with Paul's stash but it was too late.

'Oh… helping yourself huh?' David asked judgingly as the rest of them spread out into the cave. Paul came and grabbed the bag off the table.

'What did I tell you?' Paul warned her, his face dark and unimpressed and he went to the other couch to roll him and the boys a couple of joints. David came and took the half joint off her and lit it not taking his eyes off her.

'Sorry, I um…' She struggled to find her words while he was looking at her like that, especially with how stoned she was.

'You what?' He prompted her.

'I just needed to chill out after...' She finally said looking up at David as he stood there.

'After what Star? You stressed? Got a lot on your mind?' The way he said it and the expression he was giving her made her think he knew what she'd been thinking and it scared her. 'You should have stuck around Star, you missed out on one of the best stress relievers available.' He said smirking, then his face changed. 'Don't you ever tell anyone you're single again, you're mine.' He told her off and stalked over to his wheelchair, the boys chuckling at her. She looked over at him and he looked like a king in his castle, supremely confident in everything he did and she got up and went to her bed. Paul changed the music and the boys laughed and talked while she rolled over and tried not to let them see she was crying.