Hi everyone! I apologize for the shortness in this chapter. I didn't realize until I went to edit it last night that it was a bit lacking in length compared to the others.

I'm working on a kind of listing system for my TLB site (for when it moves) where I link to people's work offsite. Say if your fic is on a Blogger blog, I'll put you up on my site in its own listing. My thinking is that not everyone likes to list their stories on automated databases like this, or cross post them all over the place. I thought it'd be pretty cool to have a one stop shop for people with blog-like fics out there (and encourage others to do so) to be accessed. Plus the coding for actually creating a database and allowing access for others to be hosted is boggling my mind. I'm just trying to create my author site right now! For this it'll be in the future since I'm trying to get some semblance of a writing site up before I go to a convention at the end of August so that's my site-building priority right now. But if you have TLB fic that isn't in an automated database like this one (or were thinking about gussying up your own site with work that is), keep me in mind and keep watching!

Also, I just wanted to let you all know that I have seen Lost Boys: The Tribe (the wonders of the internet, huh?). I do plan on doing a full on review but I'll say this for now: as a stand alone vampire flick, I was entertained which surprised me immensely. As just another vampire movie, I can say that I liked it. As a Lost Boys sequel, well, using the word "sequel" is pushing it. Hackneyed, contrived, cheap, at points insulting, rip-off (at times verbatim), "updated for modern day" remake would be more like it. Corey Feldman was freakin' awesome in it and I really do wish the sequel focused more on the blurb in the end credits with the Edgar and Sam showdown. It would have been much more redeeming. But I kid you not, it's like my brain has put up a defense mechanism that just downright refuses to connect this movie to anything Lost Boys. Really, I think that's why I enjoyed it because if I start making connections (as I will in my review), I'll tear it apart and spit it back out. Everyone knows WB only tacked on the TLB title for monetary purposes. It could easily be removed and stand alone as another teen vampire flick (which is what it would be, think along the lines of what The Forsaken is to Near Dark). But Lost Boys it certainly is not. It had moments but only when either of the Coreys were present. I'm going to need to watch it a second time in order to review it properly.

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Her brother. Her brother from her human life? She knew her brothers now but this guy? He looked like all the other punks she killed in Santa Carla. He was dressed in all black, heavy black eyeliner, his hair spiked in a Mohawk with a blue stripe running straight down the top. His fingernails were black and he wore lots of leather but they were in the shapes of cuffs and collars.

Detta searched her memory again, back beyond her rebirth and to her life in New York. Everything was hazy, covered in a thick layer of smog. No faces were really imprinted, just silhouettes against a brown fog. Then she had a flash, a microsecond of film zipped before her eyes; the tracest of memories left. There was an older man and woman, two boys; teenagers, two girls; elementary school age and another younger boy, maybe around the age of five. The younger of the two girls, Detta realized, was her. The resemblance was unmistakable. The rest had to have been her siblings and her parents but the names escaped her, except for Jack. Jackie. But which one was he? He didn't look to be older than her, at least not from what she could tell that was hidden under the make-up. Especially judging by this group of friends, this guy was her little brother.

"What, you get hit in the head or something? What's wrong with you?" Jackie was getting impatient and worry started to creep into his voice. He wanted answers.

Marko was getting shifty under the gazes of the group but Detta's voice eased his, however slightly. "Jackie. Yes, sorry. I haven't been myself lately. Amnesia." It was like speaking to a stranger, making up excuses to get out of a sticky situation.

"Hold on," Marko said to the group as he grabbed Detta's arm and walked her away. He stopped her next to him, keeping their backs to their dinner. "I didn't know he was your brother," Marko whispered through gritted teeth.

"As if I did! I barely remember him!" Detta hoarsely whispered back. "Being a vampire makes you forget your human past, doesn't it?"

Marko nodded. "But you're not supposed to run into your past!"

"You sound like I planned this! How was I supposed to know?"

"They have to die, Detta. You're supposed to be dead."

"Weren't they going to anyway?"

"This fucks things up now, though. You have a connection to your prey. I should kill him."

"Why?"

"Because you two share blood. You could start remembering if you feed on him. It would be like killing one of us. The remorse, the guilt, it could destroy you. Let me do it."

"Fine. I don't mind. But Marko, it feels like I've just met him for the first time. He's just another kill to me. His name means nothing."

"But it will if you feed on him. Let me take care of him. I can't let you take him. You're too young and it could destroy you."

"Are we taking the whole group or just a few?"

"Your brother, maybe three others. I wouldn't want to do any more."

"We should get back. I'm sure they're getting restless."

"What the hell you guys doing?" Jackie yelled to them.

"And I was right. We break up the group, feed and head back to the hotel. I think I've had enough excitement for one night."

Marko kissed her before they both turned and walked back to the group. There was a part of Detta that wanted to remember Jackie and her human family. It was just a dream now, one that was fading with each passing day. But in the end she didn't remember. He might as well been someone she had passed on the street that she happened to recall. She felt no connection to him other than a potential meal. Detta wondered what would happen if vampires didn't have that blocking mechanism, if they couldn't be rid of their human emotions and pasts. The suffering would probably be great. She could imagine vampires taking their own lives in grief. No wonder Marko never regretted a feed. She didn't think it was possible, not as a vampire. It would be like a human regretting eating a hamburger, the guilt imposed by that slaughtered cow unbearable. The notion was ridiculous.

It still didn't keep her from trying. She searched every corner of her brain but she was only met with haze and shapeless figures. Every once in a while she'd get a flash of something that could have been her past but it disappeared faster than she could process it. Max was right. She really wasn't the same person anymore. The more she aged as a vampire, the more detached she became from her human self and humanity. Maybe it was all for the better. As a human, she might not have been able to get over the attempts on her life coupled with the fact that Ted was still alive. It would have eaten her up inside. Being with Marko, her life in Santa Carla wouldn't have been half of what it is now without him but with him, had none of those circumstances existed, her ultimatum would have been the same—turn or be killed. At least she'd like to think.

Marko sent the majority of the group off using his vampire abilities, making sure to implant false memories and wipe away the ones that would be incriminating towards them. It was the only way. She was able to make Ted do what she wanted but he was aware of his lack of choice. Marko told her earlier that it was a skill that needed to be mastered in order to override them completely. Do funny things with human minds. Why couldn't he just erase Jackie's mind and they be on their way? Perhaps the trail was too long, the familial connection too strong. She didn't know and, at this point, her hunger was starting to override her logical thought and her care.

Jackie tried talked to her as his sister as Marko lured them away from the bright lights of the amusement park but she only returned with subtle groans of acknowledgement. He spoke of their parents, how devastated they were to find out their daughter had died and how happy they were going to be to find out it was all a mistake. Their sister was starting medical school, en route to becoming a pediatrician. Their two older brothers, one already with a family before Detta left and now the other just started one out. His daughter was named Benedetta. Jackie needlessly pointed out that he was the black sheep, not wanting to go to school or start a family. He didn't care about any of that. He just wanted to live, whatever that entailed.

Still, her thoughts were empty. Jackie didn't exist to her before tonight and she was increasingly wishing that the night would end because of him. She glanced over at Marko and gave him an uneasy look, one that said 'lets finish this already.' She no longer wanted to be around this guy that called himself her brother, nor any of the other punks. Marko was able to wheedle the two boys away under the guise of a drug buy but he had to turn up his power of persuasion a little higher on Jackie to detach him from Detta. He finally succumbed and she was left with the only other girl in their group—a chick with spiked pink hair, a nose ring and a PVC outfit. She creaked when she walked. The girl, Detta didn't care to get her name, tried to converse with her but Detta afforded her the same responses she gave to Jackie.

Detta looked around them. A single streetlight flickered about a hundred yards off and Marko had already disappeared down an alley with Jackie and the other guy. Now in the bowels of Coney Island, where no one thought to go, where no one now saw, Detta made her move. The girl didn't even have time to scream as Detta grabbed her by the throat and silenced any sound that considered issuing from her body. Giving another quick glance around, she lifted herself and the girl into the air and out over the water. The girl's eyes widened when Detta slid into fang, her acrylic nails feebly clawing at the iron fist gripping her throat. Detta saw the girl's eyes bulge but paid them no mind as she dove into her neck, tearing at her flesh and draining her punk life from her body. There was some kicking in an attempt to get away but Detta merely issued a mocking chuckle from her throat as she drank greedily of the girl's life. The girl finally fell limp and Detta released her body into the ocean below, a mile or two from the shore. Should her body wash up, it would be unrecognizable when it did.

She returned to their separating point and she could still hear Marko in the alley drinking. The boys must have put up a fight if it was taking him this long. She walked to him; mentally telling him it was just her to stave off panic. By the looks of it, he'd finished Jackie first; the body lay in a heap at Marko's feet as the other boy dangled from his mouth. Detta walked up to her dead brother and squat down next to him. The tear in his neck glistened with still-fresh blood. His eyes were just as wide as the girl's were and now just as lifeless. A small pool of blood formed just under his head and Detta touched a finger to it. It was quickly going cold. What would happen if she tasted just that small amount that rested on her finger? Would it be as bad as Marko said it would be? She sniffed at the blood and it triggered a sense of familiarity in her, those hazes in her thoughts started to come into focus. Just before her tongue touched her finger, a hand grabbed onto her arm to stop her. Marko's mouth enveloped Detta's finger to be rid of the blood.

"Not even a drop. What happened when you smelled it?"

"I saw fuzzy outlines before. They started to come into focus."

Marko nodded. "You stay away from your human family. I don't think you should come back here for a while, not until you're older, when you can better handle it. Maybe when you know your parents are dead. It's just too risky now. I had to block you out when I fed, still have to now, because of his blood. I need to feed again. So do you."

"I let you know I was coming—"

Marko shook his head. "I sensed you but I couldn't read you. I didn't know what you would see if I opened up our connection. Go feed again. I'll meet you back at the hotel. I'll cheer you up," he added slyly.

Detta smiled back as Marko brushed her check with his hand. He wouldn't kiss her because of Jackie's blood. She felt empty, maybe confused. She couldn't tell. Her human brother was lying dead at her feet and she felt nothing for him and couldn't tell if she should or not. Her temptation still pulled her towards Jackie's blood. She wanted to know what it felt like to be human again, if only just for a second but it wouldn't happen. She trusted Marko. He'd been right each time and she could sense her destruction in Jackie's veins. She heeded Marko's warning and, instead, helped his dispose of the bodies. They fed again on their own and resigned to meet back at their hotel for their final day of sleep in New York City. It was time to go home.

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Reviews are always appreciated.