Mike PoV
With Max's departure, I stand, planning to bring Sierra along if she would only come, but her words stop me.
"Wait head vampire? That geeky sleaze ball is the head vampire?" I ask with utter shock as if the question had not been answered already. I have no idea what that means, sounds like vampires run some kind of corporation. Corporations are evil, but I don't know, they are blood sucking evil in this form. "Fuck, fuck, fuck"
My fist hits the table in an undiluted rage.
I can deal with them going after me. Shit I'd figured something out, but they want my mom, the blood sucking monsters want to take my mom. I'll stay away, but if I'm slated to become one, she'll only be joining. Sam though, what the hell? He'll might as well be orphaned! It's bad enough he's seeing me being pulled from his life, becoming someone he doesn't know anymore... but Mom?
"Shit mom let him in! What the hell? I knew it! I knew there was something weird when he told her that he was to gentlemanly to come in without an invite! That four-eyes-ass sucking-butt-munch! You guys know that? About the invite?" Sam turns and looks at Edgar and Alan.
"Of course!" Edgar exclaims, though his voice sounds a little on the surprised side. Both of the Frog kids look suspiciously at each other then look at me and Sierra. "Okay, Nosferatu... and, blood- sucking- chick: here's the deal. You both don't vamp out or anything and get in our way, or you're getting staked"
" Edgar, chill" Sam rolls his eyes at Edgar then looks at me worriedly. "What we gonna do? There weren't any effects on him! We're screwed!" Sam now is beyond panicked; I can see it in the droplets of sweat nonchalantly erupting onto his forehead and the exaggerated mannerisms when talking to us.
"You probably been screwed if there was. I mean, I don't want to imagine how pissed he'd be if he wasn't invited and you did all that, would reveal him to Mom, and well shit, I doubt that'd have went well, but he didn't do anything for the attempt. But shit, Sam, he might come after you for that, shit. We have tell Mom, have to warn her. If she'd even believe us"
"We have to kill the Head Vampire and if it's Max, we have to kill Max, but he knows we're onto him now, so this won't be nowhere near easy" Edgar nods with grunt, fixating his field of vision on Sierra in a glare before manoeuvring it onto me.
"Yeah, bloodsuckers going to be prepared. We'll have to hit him when he's most vulnerable." Alan adds, participating in the glowering contest. With the Frogs, it's like a game, a game to see who can aggravate Sierra and I the most.
"You know how to get to his house, Sam? 'Cause we only need to find his coffin and bam, he's a goo pile" Edgar slaps his hands to gather as he said 'bam', as if that made the point any more obvious.
"Except he's got a hell hound and how we get pass that" Sam then looks at me and Sierra as if we had the answer for that one. Only one problem – we didn't.
Sierra PoV
I ponder over the question Sam asks, having no idea how to deal with a canine so protective to their vampire dictator. Alan was correct, Max will be fully prepared, and not only from the tests to predict whether Max was a vampire, but from my appearance and the threat made blatantly clear he wishes to kill me. Then, the thought hits me like an unexpected baseball bat colliding with my head in an accident. It would be a foolish notion to even carry out, but it would be the only way to rescue Lucy and Michael, alongside Star and Laddie who are still battling this curse.
"Max wants to kill me. I could lure him somehow; we just need a plan how to do it. It'll be extremely dangerous, but this is the only thing I can think of right now" I inform them, awaiting their opinions on the matter. "It'll have to be at night which will be complex, but it's the only thing I've got" Suddenly, another way to entice Max to enter our trap sprints into my mind. "He wants the perfect family. During the day, tomorrow if possible, we go to the cave at Hudson's Bluff, and kill David and the others whilst they're at their weakness. It'll enrage Max, and so, lead him to where we want him, wanting to confront us. We can make a combination of the two plans if you want, but that's all I've got" I glance at Edgar who persists surveying me with negativity. "Oh yeah, and, Edgar? Calling me Sierra's fine, I don't really like sucking blood" Then I realise something – What the hell was I thinking?
We can't kill David and the others! The ones in this world, or whatever ambiguous location I have been transported to erratically, have not done anything to me. When I mentioned the scheme, I was thinking of the David who masqueraded his malevolent personality in form of a friend but was really a foe, the Dwayne who gave me a wine bottle with blood ensnared inside of it and tricked me into loving him, and the others, they were embroiled in the malicious revenge as well.
We can't kill them. I open my mouth to speak, to declare how it was an absolute catastrophe of a plan and give them my apologies, but another voice speaks in place of mine. There's only one thing I can make of this: that was a revolting concept to even think of.
Mike PoV
Edgar grunts, but doesn't look like he'll change his mind about nicknames.
I, on the other hand, shake my head.
"That's insane, you want to set yourself up? What happens if you die and we still get screwed? At night? How the hell are we supposed to kill this guy at night, I mean all the vampire movies I've seen makes them pretty damned hard and I have doubts that well be as conveniently lucky as the movie heroes. I may not be one as long as you have, but this just sounds loony and plan to fail, and it won't be just you in danger, this could cost my brother's life and these two," I gesture at Alan and Edgar. I wasn't for this weird since of self sacrifice, especially that it could also have a back lash on my family. "These dorks are just little kids, Sierra, not van Helsing."
I like Sierra, I really did, but what she suggested sounds like she was ready to commit suicide and if it failed, it means others would pay too and I didn't like those odds, then the suggestion of killing David and the others, that was even more insane.
"What? Wait you just want to kill them to get Max upset? Tha-that's." I can't believe the suggestion, killing was killing and if David wasn't needed to die, it just sounds wrong. She looks like she's going to retract what she even dared to think of, but what if it's just another crazy idea? "That'd make us no better than them! I can't chip in with that. I can't send my brother down there with these kids, not to kill David and the others when we will not change back" I'm almost horrified at the suggestion. "And have this guy steamed off pissed at us? Like I said, I may not been this as long, but this sounds crazy. I can deal with going after Max, we have to, but pissing him off more sounds like a bad idea. It sounds like we'd be doing a lot and taking too many chances. I can't take a maybe chance with my family's life, Sierra, and I don't want you to go off getting yourself killed just to take some chance that may not work. We can see about killing Max, that's it, he has a, a, a." Well, I can't remember what Sam called it.
"Hell dog... I hate to say it, but Mike's kinda right, we can't just go in kill a bunch of his lackeys and think this sucker's gonna be a cake walk right into a trap" Sam looks shaken up about the reality of putting a plan to action, especially when it wasn't as simple as walking in and staking him.
"We only need the Head Vampire, staking the rest while removes the evil bastards, won't mean success. If this Max guy plans something, we need to do it come dawn, because if we spend all day killing the other blood suckers, he's going to come for us. Come night or wait out 'till he can kill us when we least expect. It's best to try and take out the major player first if you can and considering he will be prepared, its better we strike him before he strikes us. 'Cause right now, he's satisfied we're not thinking him the Head Vamp because our tests didn't work. We take away the surprise who knows what'll happen." Edgar intones. Jesus, this is going to actually happen.
"Yeah, killing the others first when we know who the Head Vampire is won't help, especially if Dracula decides to go vamp on us, or you and we're not going take that chance of you two vamping out on us. We'll take care of Max and his little dog, too. You both just stay out of the way." Alan said with all seriousness.
"Whatever, you go after Max, but don't do something stupid. I don't care, just don't get Sam killed" I look at Sierra who had furiously strode out of the room prior to this moment and walk out to her in the living room, leaving Sam to talk between the Frog kids as they planned out how to deal with Max.
Sierra PoV
"Michael, I'm not looking at getting your brother or those two kids involved in this. I've got my own sources I can use. Do you really think I'm going to put three young kid's lives in danger? Shit, I'm almost a parent myself to my brother's, Michael, and I know what it's like seeing your own sibling get harmed" I am almost fuming, just the insinuations I extracted and the tone in his voice informing me he deemed that I didn't give a care in the world for anyone's welfare enrages me. "It was a ridiculous idea, I know, but I don't know what the hell else to do. My head is a mess, and admittedly, I'm frightened to death, okay? There, I admit it, I'm not the overly tough girl you think I am, Michael. Nor am I so detached from humanity as to allow three kids to get themselves involved in the chance of being killed. I may seem like a tough girl, but I'm not so frozen up inside that I don't care for the safety of others, you included" I sigh a little as I pace around the living room, attempting not to overhear the conversation between Sam and The Frogs. "If you knew half as much as I do, Michael, you'd understand why I want to keep those kids you refer to as dorks out of trouble. Oh wait a second, I'm too tough to care about kids, remember? My bad, I almost granted that one to slip my mind"
I pause for a moment, then wanting to justify the reasoning towards why I have this tough disposition, so he didn't think bad of me. I don't know why I want him to know, but I feel so infuriated currently that I have no idea why I want to say anything. I can feel an abnormal growl in my stomach, silent but heard clearly by myself. I turn my back to him, looking out of the window to see anything other than the disappointment I fear etches his face.
Mike PoV
At first I was angry, I hadn't assumed she didn't care, only that she didn't think because who else here could she mean to be saying all this? To go and do what she was suggesting, and worse, to suggest throwing herself out to be killed in the attempt? No life is worth loosing for anything, I mean I don't even want to kill that bastard David if it wasn't necessary. My anger fades as it came, seeing her falter, to show that she wasn't so disconnected with herself.
"Sierra, I don't think that, but what you was planning, who else? Who else could you mean? I don't care if I would be stuck like this forever, I'm not going to just sit by and let you or my brother throw their life away to try and save me when not a sure thing. This isn't a comic, not a movie or TV. show. There's no coming back from dying and if there is, I doubt it's worth the cost and even likely to be easy to find considering" I walk towards her and reached out to gingerly touch her shoulder, but she turns away, ready to go.
Sierra PoV
I listen to what he has to say, hearing the antagonism diminish from his voice makes me more than content. I wasn't planning on killing myself though. I wouldn't do something so foolish. The fact he even thought of it, almost challenging the strength I possess, makes me slightly more annoyed. However, it soon fades. It wasn't his intention to make me maddened.
"Guess when what Max said to your mom is true, you develop a tough exterior. I don't know what the hell I'm saying, Michael, all I know is that killing David and the others to infuriate Max is wrong and I shouldn't have suggested it. I'm just scared. For once I don't know what the hell's going on and I don't know how to confront it. I don't know how I can get my brother's out of this mess or how to prevent it from getting to them. My sister's one of them and I swear I could have done something. I don't know what the hell I'm even doing here, my guess was to find my dad who I didn't even know was my dad until last night. I don't know. I want to help you and your family, even Star. Nobody knows me, Michael; I'm just the strange girl who turned up out of nowhere. You know what it's like looking at your brother's and they can't even recall your name? Because that just happened, and you have no fucking idea how much I just wanted to snap there. Look, you need to stay away from me if I'm Max's prime target at the moment, you and your family. I appreciate your help and everything, but I'm just going to make things even more complicated" I then say, grabbing the leather bag and slinging it over my shoulder.
Mike PoV
She has brothers, brothers who disowned her or didn't want to face the truth of what she is becoming? Whatever their outlook, it had affected her deeply, opening a wound of some sort.
"I don't know you and it doesn't matter if you been like this longer. Killing yourself is just stupid; it's not worth dying for when you have no actual idea the consequences. I don't want my brother to die, but I couldn't live with the thought that I could sit back and just allow you to just allow your own death. If you're not from around here, who here do you know? And your brothers don't know you? But shit, hell, I look at Sam - even my mom doesn't seem to know me anymore. Sam thinks I'm no longer his brother, though he's so scared and trying, I guess, to help. It's not worth it, not if I have to see someone die that I care about, it can't be worth it to you to see someone die"
This was crazy; she wants to what? Martyr herself or something? A sacrifice?
"Sierra, you think killing yourself will spare us? Anyone? Look at me! I'm already trapped in their clutches! You saw what he did, what he said. He wants to come after me, whatever the reason, he's got his sights on me. And, and well why do you have to always be strong? What's wrong with actually letting someone in? I don't doubt you have strength, but shit, throwing yourself under the bus isn't strength, Sierra, that's giving in. Even if you do it because it might save someone, that's just giving in. Because it won't stop 'till they're finally stopped. And I mean Max. One problem at a time. Can't take them all, you have to set your sights on one goal, know what you're doing, and know your play in the game"
Sierra PoV
"I wasn't planning on killing myself, Michael!" I snap, but quickly compose myself as I don't want to hurt him. Inhaling deeply, I prepare my next piece of speech elicited straight from the heart. I have to go. I can't stay here anymore. "I'm sorry for placing you guys in a load of trouble, just make sure you keep away from me and you shouldn't get yourself involved in anymore" I tenderly kiss Michael's cheek, a thank you and a goodbye combined into one, smile briefly with my watery eyes gleaming out. "Good luck with Max, I'm sure you guys will do fine"
I finish smiling and stride towards the door, opening it with care before I am startled by a blinding light and the feeling of claws scraping my stomach violently, and before I can even blink, I am at Hudson's Bluff, a familiar man whose blood runs in my veins approaching me. I can sense that I belong to him only, and so, the dread commences now.
Mike PoV
I like her, she had a kindness about her and unlike Star she wasn't thinking of how to get out at the cost of others, but to sacrifice herself for others, I can't let her do that to herself.
"I'd rather become one of those monsters than live with the knowledge that I allowed someone to die for me. There has to be other ways to handle this. Max must die, he's going after my mom. It's bad enough they plan to take me, but not my mom. I can handle this, but not Mom" I step towards her, hoping to stop her from leaving. I don't want her to go. "Don't go, we can deal with this, we can! If Max is dead in the morning, then you will not be a danger. We'll be free, but you don't ha -"
As I try imploring her, she is suddenly gone. I'm not sure what happened. One moment she was here, the next, a blinding flash...
"Sierra?" I look around in confusion. I'm not sure if she even heard anything I said in her sorrow. She had seemed so alone and outcast...
She didn't have to be.