Disclaimer: I do not own the work of fiction this is based on. In movie? Theirs. Not in movie? Mine.
Thicker than Water
Chapter Two: Go Away Neo-Maxie Dweebs
At the Sea & Sand Inn, one block from the boardwalk and beach, in one of the numerous rooms sat three girls in a room of two queen beds.
The room itself was opulent, large and decorated with copper metal and dark blue fabrics. There was a small sitting area comprised of two stuffed chairs and a small coffee table in between them. Sitting across from the sitting area was a television with a VCR hooked up to it.
On one of the beds sat two brunettes. One's hair was nearly black and cut in such a way that it looked as if someone had just taken a knife and cut off parts that annoyed the owner. She wore a pair of black stirrup pants and a white long-sleeved turtleneck. She had black reeboks on her feet and they were propped up and crossed on the headboard. The other's hair was a light coppery brown and was thrown up in a high bun at the top of her head. The left side of her face was a mess of purpled skin, large bruises decorating it from forehead to cheekbone. Her eye was swollen but she seemed to be able to keep it open. She had on a dark green tank top and a pair of black denim shorts. Her feet were hanging off the edge of the bed and her head was resting on the dark-haired brunette's stomach.
Both brunettes were reading. The dark one was reading a horror novel whilst the light one was reading a book on French history. She looked suitably bored.
On the other bed was a red head. She had on a white button down shirt with a pink sweater tied around her neck. She was wearing a brown knit mini-skirt and had on pale pink leggings leading to knee high brown leather boots.
She was leaning against the headboard staring intently into the mirror as she was applying red lipstick to her upper lip. She had just finished marking the left half of her top lip and was slowly making a perfect line on the right side when a loud brayed "HA" caused her to jump and strike lipstick along her porcelain cheek.
"What the hell, Allison? What's your damage?" She turned to glare at the dark brunette, her beautiful face twisted into a nasty scowl.
"The monster just killed three of the kids. It was a bloodbath!" Allison responded gleefully, baring all of her teeth over at the girl on the opposing bed.
"Really? How'd it do it?" Questioned the copper brunette glancing over at her headrest's face.
"Well," The dark haired girl drawled, "it had ripped the head and spine out of the jock, given the prom queen a lobotomy before tearing her heart out, and then just gave a fatal vivisection to the nerd."
"Juicy."
The brunettes both grinned at each other. The red head glanced over and sneered at the both of them.
"You both are totally disgusting."
"Oh, come on Claire." The light haired brunette moaned as she raised herself up to sit straight. "It's just a bit of fun!"
"Really, Rebekah! You think that reading about people being brutally murdered in fun?"
Rebekah just stared at Claire before smiling wider. She nodded enthusiastically.
"Why not?" Allison drawled.
Both of the other girls turned their attention to her. Rebekah raised an eyebrow in response but smiled slightly.
"The world is full of shitty people doing shitty things. Why can't we have a little bit of a morbid sense of humor? Let me enjoy the fact that I'm not the only messed up person in the world."
"You're both screwed."
Claire snorted and grabbed a tissue and began to rub the lipstick off of her cheek.
"Well, at least we're not living in a fairy-tale world of naivety." Rebekah responded staring intently at Claire.
Claire jerked forward sneering into Rebekah's face.
"Just because I'm not a sick, twisted, worthless individual doesn't mean that I'm living in a made-up world! It's people like you and Allison that makes this place a shithole. People who are ambivalent towards their fellows and don't give a flying fuck what happens in the world."
"Hey now, I care. I don't want children in Pakistan to have to fight to survive. I think that we all should have a good chance at this life. But you know what? All of us have these short meaningless ant lives and after that running start people turn to shit. They stop helping people and become selfish greedy bastards. So what if I stop caring about others and I only care about me and mine?"
Rebekah leaned forward and stared into Claire's eyes intently.
Claire glanced away quickly before regrouping and sneering at Rebekah again.
"Well, I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand my, and everyone who is normal, point of view."
"What does that mean?"
Both of the arguing girls turned to look at Allison who had put her book down onto her stomach.
"I mean people who were raised by a parent that has no morals. You both would have had a chance at being likeable if you hadn't had a whore for a mother."
Allison flinched. Rebekah's face clouded over with repressed anger as she turned away from Allison towards Claire.
"What does that make your father?"
"What?" Claire blinked.
"Your daddy? The man who fucked my mother and got her knocked up? The thirty year old who promised the eighteen year old girl that he was going to marry her before knocking her up and running like a fucking coward? The man who cheated on your mother when you were a year old? What does that make him?"
Claire stood up abruptly. She grabbed her brown leather jacket and smoothly pulled it on, running her hands along it to remove any wrinkles that were formed in it.
"My father was an idiot. He betrayed my mother and me. I hate him but he's my father. He pays for everything I ever needed or wanted. The worst thing he has ever done to me though was make me go to California with his bastard child and her half-sister."
With that Claire swept from the hotel room, slamming the door behind her in a fit of pique.
Rebekah jumped to her feet and began to pace while biting her left fist and growling. She walked over to Claire's bed and screamed before kicking over the pale pink suitcase that had been standing on the left side of the bed.
Allison said nothing, she merely watched as her sister worked herself up into a rage.
Rebekah's nostrils flared and she made a few more revolutions around the room before tossing herself into one of the chairs at the far end of the room and propping her feet up onto the coffee table.
Allison tilted her head as she stared at her sister. She leaned over the edge of the bed and hung off of it as she grabbed a sketchpad and a few charcoal pencils off of the ground. She huffed as she righted herself before opening the pad to a blank page and began a sketch of her sister.
Rebekah had her eyes closed and was breathing deeply through her nose, flaring the nostrils unattractively. There was a wrinkled knot in between her eyebrows and a deep scowl was imprinted upon her mouth. Noticing the silence in the room she peeked one of her eyes open to glance at her sister. A fond smile took away her scowl and cleared the knot from between her brows.
"You've ruined my drawing."
Rebekah tilted her head back and just started to laugh uproariously.
"Ruined your drawing? Hun, you already had the entire thing mapped out and memorized how you want all the shading to look. You already know it all. You're a queen!"
Allison just glanced at her sideways while Rebekah grinned and winked.
Both girls broke down into giggles. Rebekah fell off of her chair which caused Allison to laugh harder.
"So, what are we going to do tonight? We have a hotel room to ourselves and no one to bring us down. We gonna party like it's 999?" Rebekah tilted her head up to look at her sister with a crooked smile.
"I don't want to do much. Maybe a movie? A ride on the carousel and some Chinese?"
"In that order?"
Allison nodded. "Exactly that order."
Rebekah shrugged her shoulders. "As the lady commands!"
She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on a pair of dark green boot socks and pulled on a pair of black biker boots.
"Ride or walk?"
"Walk. It's not far."
The girls left the room Rebekah turning around to lock the room while Allison waited for her a few feet away.
"Alright, let's get going yeah?" Rebekah asked as she laced her arm through her sisters and began to skip towards the boardwalk.
As they walked along the road a dirt bike with a man on it came roaring down the street. The bike hit a patch of sand on the side of the road and kicked it up into the girls' faces as they got closer to the boardwalk.
"Hey, you stupid dick!" Rebekah yelled out picking up a rock and tossing it half-heartedly in the boy's direction.
They lost sight of him quickly as the neon glow of the boardwalk came into view.
The boardwalk was as it was every night. Loud, thumping music filled the air from the outside concert, everywhere you looked sweaty, writhing bodies danced as the night air grew denser and denser. The stench of the sickly, salty ocean air permeated the coastline.
Four boys walked, taking up the majority of the boardwalk's path, and the crowd parted in front of them, none touching them or making eye contact with any of them.
In their wake a timid woman walked in gauzy clothes as a boy tried to imitate the elders' struts.
The boys walked to one of the guardrails of the boardwalk bordering a staircase leading down to the beach below.
The little boy bounced along looking around with excitement on his face whilst the girl looked nervous and uncomfortable.
"Star." The girl snapped around to look at the platinum blond boy. "You get to watch Laddie tonight. We have something important to deal with."
The boy groaned. "Do I really have to go with Star, David? I want to hang out with you guys! We haven't done anything in so long!"
David looked down at Laddie and smirked at him. He reached over and ruffled Laddie's hair. "'Fraid so kiddo."
"Ugh!" Laddie reached up and tried to smooth his unruly blond hair back down.
"Well? Go on now kiddies!" Paul yelled as he hung off of Marko. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"That doesn't cut out much."
"Shut it Marko!"
The two boys started to punch each other in their sides whooping as they did. They were moving around rambunctious that they bumped into the silent Dwayne. Dwayne swiftly turned toward the two and wrapped both of them up into a headlock.
"Aaah! Run little dude! Escape while you can!" Paul choked out cackling as he and Marko twisted trying to get out of the Dwayne's arms.
Star moved closer to Laddie, placing her hands on his shoulders before gently moving Laddie towards the festive lights of the boardwalk.
"Stay safe Laddie." This was the first time that Dwayne had spoken that night.
Laddie glanced back at Dwayne over his shoulder and grinned brightly.
"I'll be safe! I always am anyways."
David gave the boy a slight smile before cutting his eyes towards the bright lights. Laddie nodded before whooping and running off towards the center of the boardwalk. Star raised her skirt before rushing off after the enthusiastic boy.
The remaining group instantly turned serious stopping their rough housing in favor of scanning the crowd.
"Do you think that they're here?"
Marko, chewing on his thumb nail, was the first boy to speak up and break the silence that pervaded the group.
"They're here."
Dwayne spoke with complete surety in his voice.
"How are you so sure?"
Paul questioned looking over at the older boys with a furrowed brow.
Marko smirked a little at Paul.
"Alright, listen up little bro. Do you remember how our new sisters' smelt?"
Paul nodded. "Of course I can! I just can't scent them now. That's the problem."
"No, you just can't smell them."
Paul sent a nasty sneer over at Marko, Marko just smiled at him.
"What you need to do is close your eyes and breathe. And I don't mean any pussy-footing pansy breathing. You need to let your nose work overtime. Sift through all of the unwashed masses and that shitty food and just focus on the scents of our sisters. You just sort through scents until they're sensitized again. Like when you were first turned and every sense was overwhelming."
Paul's mouth was twisted into a pout but he did as Marko told him to do. His nose twisted up as he smelt the sweat of the thronging mass of dancers by the concert, he smelt the sweetness of the cotton candy machines, and he could smell the acrid scent of the fryers of the carnival food.
But underneath that were two specific scents that perked him up entirely. He could smell cheap shampoo underneath the smell of leather. There was also that scent that made him think of home.
Excited he hopped around exclaiming loudly, "I found them! They're here!"
All of the guys were staring at Paul in amusement and as such they didn't see the two girls that they were searching for walk right in front of them along the boardwalk.
"There it is! I told you I saw a rental place!" Allison had her arm wrapped around her sister's elbow and was leaning her head against her shoulder.
"We look like dikes." Rebekah replied smirking.
"Do we want Aliens, Trick or Treat, or the latest Friday the 13th?"
Allison shifted and gnawed on her bottom lip. "Why don't we just get the first one we find?"
"Agreed."
Both girls looked at the other and nodded their heads in unison.
Allison ran ahead and grabbed the door for Max's Video Rental and threw it open. She skipped inside quickly while Rebekah followed at a slower pace but with no less enthusiasm.
There was a man with thick glasses and bad fashion sense behind the counter that glanced up quickly and stared at the girls as they made their way around the racks of the brightly lit store.
He watched the girls as they practically danced among the movies, picking up a movie, reading the back, and joking among each other. He watched intently, taking in every aspect of the young women, all the little synchronicities of their movements, how they kept each other in view and at a certain angle.
Pack.
His decision was made in a split second. There was no real reason to think about what he was going to do or the consequences of his actions. They were his; as much as that wild group of thugs were his.
He started to move around the counter to get closer to the girls when the bell above his shop's door cheerfully ran out.
A mousy looking woman walked in leading a weeping boy. She wore a long pink flowered dress with a light pink cardigan. She had on a pair of very thick eyeglasses.
"Excuse me? This little boy has lost his mother."
The man pretended to be listening to the woman speak about the remarkably stupid situation that she had thrown herself into the middle of all while keeping an eye on the girls who were walking closer to the counter.
The shorter brunette gave the taller one a five before kneeling down by the crying child.
The tall brunette went over to the man and handed him the money.
"Oh? Ready to check out? I'll be right back ma'am."
He moved behind the counter quickly ringing up a discounted price for the video rental. "That will be two dollars out of five."
He listened to the girl by the boy.
"What's your name sweetie?"
"Terry." The boy hiccupped and sniffled. The man stifled the urge to turn up his nose.
"What does your momma look like?"
"She tall and has brown hair. She's pretty and nice and I want my mommy!"
"Alright. You stay here; I'll find your momma for you."
"And three dollars is your change. The film is due back in two days. Enjoy."
The tall girl took the change without saying a word and quickly walked by the crying boy and out the door.
"Have a good night." The shorter girl spoke over her shoulder before following the tall one swiftly.
"Well, that was a little rude." The woman spoke up and the man had the urge to snap her and the whining brat's necks.
"But I guess teenagers will be teenagers. Lord knows what I was like at that age." She smiled over at the man behind the counter.
"I thought maybe his parents might be in here? Do you remember seeing him with anyone?"
A woman rushed in, eyes panicked and breathing accelerated, "Terry! Oh, thank God!" She kneeled down to the young boy's level before bringing him into a tight embrace. "I was so worried."
She looked over at the man before smiling tightly.
"Thank you for sending that girl to find me."
As she and the boy turned to leave four biker boys walked in. The mother carefully guided her son around the boys before leaving quickly, dragging the little boy by her tight hold on his wrist.
The boys looked around, Paul not so subtly sniffing at the air around him as he and Marko moved closer to the counter and the shop girl that had just come out of the back.
"Hey, have you seen two brunettes around here in the last ten minutes?"
The question was asked quickly and with little tact, ignoring the fact that the girl had started making puppy-dog eyes at the boy who had spoken. Almost instantly the look disappeared and an expression of angered disdain tainted the previously pretty girls face.
"No I most definitely have not. Maybe you should keep your girls on leashes if you lose them?"
Dwayne turned to look sharply at the girl behind the counter. He began to stalk over to her radiating anger and death.
"Oh did they have brown hair?" The woman in pink interjected before Dwayne could move farther than a few feet.
"Oh yeah, actually. See they're our sisters. We just kinda lost them in the crowd." Marko took up the mantle of talking for the group.
David just watched the scene playing out in front of him. His cold ice blue eyes betrayed none of his feelings except for a fleeting glimmer of satisfaction.
"Oh, yes. They were just in here not five minutes ago. They rented a movie, I suppose for you all to watch later tonight, and then left. They aren't very social girls are they? But the smaller one did find that little boy's mother. How are you all related? You really don't look alike."
The glare that was foisted on the woman by David could have frozen blood in the veins of the most stalwart of men.
"I thought I told you not to come in here anymore." The man growled out at the boys in his store.
This removed David's stare from the woman and in turn moved it to the man. A cold calculated smile graced his thin lips before he and all of the boys hopped out of the store.
The woman graces them with a kind smile as they leave never knowing how close she came to becoming a face on the missing posters.
"Wild kids."
"Oh, they're just young. We were that age once. Only they dress better. I'm Lucy by the way."
"Max." The man replied shortly with a tight smile.
"I don't suppose you would happen to know anyplace that is hiring?" Lucy asked, eyes shining with hope and just a hint of attraction.
"There's a restaurant that's hiring waitresses and the record shop is looking for a new part-timer for the evening." Max was pleasant to Lucy but only to the degree of a helpful clerk.
The expression on Lucy's face lost some of the vibrancy but remained interested and kind.
"Are you going to rent a movie tonight, Miss Lucy?" Max asked, looking uninterested in discussion and distracted by his thoughts.
"Oh! No, no. . maybe later. Thank you for your help." The stuttering and blushing as Lucy spoke, backing up toward the entrance of the store irritated Max.
"Have a nice night."
Max waited by the counter for a few moments before moving to the backroom.
"Maria, will you watch the front for a few minutes please?"
"Sure thing, boss!" The beautiful shop girl replied smiling brightly at Max.
Max walked to the back room, making sure that Maria was doing as he told her to, before unlocking and opening the back door and walking into the dank alleyway behind his store.
Waiting for him, leaning against the shaded brick wall, was David. The smoke from his cigarette wafted up in the breeze causing Max to wrinkle his nose at the unwanted carcinogenic air flowing into his body.
"Do you know what those girls are?"
David's cold eyes cut over Max.
"Of course."
The sneer in his voice caused Max to smile. He stepped closer to David taking the cigarette from between his lips and stubbing it out on the wall by David's head. He dropped the butt before moving his hand to cup David's cheek.
"Now, my dear son, smoking can kill you."
His grip tightened, digging his sharp nails into his progeny's face before releasing it by shoving it into the wall behind him. Now David was looking at the ground while Max took an aggressive stance in front of him.
"Have you found your new sisters yet?"
The question was asked in a condescending tone though the fond look that was on Max's belied his attitude.
"Not yet. We should find them soon, their scent is fresh. We should have introduced ourselves and become acquainted by the end of night at least."
Max's eyebrow was raised in disbelief.
"Do you truly think that they are just going to go along with you like all of your prey? They are not like the coke whores or Star. A pretty face won't sway them. As a matter of fact, neither girl spoke a word to me while in my store. But they did find that mother. I don't think that you will get anywhere with them anytime soon. Maybe you might learn patience in this chase?"
David's lips twitched before he settled them into an expressionless line. His eyes however showed off the petulance and arrogance of the twenty year old man he would always be.
"I'll get them."
He stood up from leaning against the brick wall, smiling tightly at Max before exiting the alleyway. He walked right in front of a fifteen year old fashion disaster; a young blond boy who had been running down the boardwalk toward the concert who stopped short tripping over his feet and changing directions to crash into the glass of VideoMax. David glanced over at the boy before dismissing him in the same second.
The boy sneered at David's back before running off bobbing through the crowded throng of concert goers till he made it to the side of a young man, around eighteen, who was watching a girl in a long white spaghetti strapped dress dance to the song.
A little boy is by her, a sad and heart-wrenchingly lonely look upon his face. He tugs gently on her dress a few times, trying to get the dancing girl's attention before giving up after being completely ignored. He slowly turns away from her and runs off onto the boardwalk towards the brightly lit carousel and the loud games.
He ran so quickly and was not looking at where he was looking that when he slammed into a body there was no stopping the momentum that caused him to crash into the wooden planks below him.
"Whoa! Little dude, where's the fire?"
A woman's voice asked him in concern before Laddie felt kind calloused hands reach down to pull him up. He looked up as he took the hands proffered. He began to stare at the girl before him.
"Little dude? Are you ok? Did ya hit your head? Little dude!"
The girl began to wave her hand in front of Laddie's face but the longer he was silent the more frantic she got. Soon she was gently moving his hair from in front of his face and lightly touching the back of his head.
"No bumps." She kept muttering.
Pack. It was an instinctive call in his mind. It short circuited all of his thoughts and caused him to stand there deaf, dumb, mute, but definitely not blind. He looked at the woman who was watching him with such concern and the girl standing behind her, anxiously biting at her nails and he saw family.
The feeling was so intense that all Laddie wanted to do was throw himself into the girls' arms and get a hug, to just stay there until his brothers came to get them and take them home.
"I'm ok."
The girl stopped her random pats to stare into his eyes.
"Are you sure? Why are you alone?"
"I'm sure. I was with Star but I really wanted to go on the carousal and I couldn't get her attention so I came anyway. But I don't have any money now."
"You just ran off? Did you at least tell her where you were going to be? Isn't she going to be worried about you? I know that I would be out of my mind if my little brother ran off. . ."
Laddie grinned at her, pleased with the information that he had just received.
"Star won't mind. I do it all the time, sometimes she tells me to leave her alone too. I'll just meet my brothers at their bikes in an hour or so."
"Do you wanna go for a ride on the carousal?"
Laddie looked up at the girl that was still standing. He smiled widely as he wildly nodded his head.
"Hey, little man, before you go accepting things from strangers at least know their names. I'm Rebekah. This is my little sister Allison. Now we can go on that carousal ride."
The small group got in the short line for the ride. Rebekah was in the front of the group, back turned to the people in front of her in line so she could talk to her small section of nuclear people. Allison is in the back of the group; her hand was lightly laying on Laddie's right shoulder. Every time they moved she would gently guide him forward making sure that no one bumped or hit the boy.
"This is your little sister? But she's so much taller than you!" Laddie laughed as he said this turning his head up at both of the girls.
"I'm two years younger than her. She got the looks; I got the height." Allison drawled as she looked down at Laddie with a crooked grin.
"She's totally lying to you, little man. If she took that black shit off her eyes she would look like a million bucks. I'm the one that would look like a midget that escaped from the circus then." Rebekah interjected looking over at Allison and giving a shit-eating grin.
"You're both beautiful." Laddie spoke up quietly.
"Aw! Shucks!"
"Charmer. How old are you?"
"I'm twelve. How old are you guys?"
They had reached the front of the line so Rebekah turned around and was buying the three tickets that they would need in order to get on the carousal.
"Rebekah is nineteen and I'm seventeen. Old huh?"
"No, no you're not. I'm twelve! I'm almost as old as you are."
"What? What? I heard my name!" Rebekah turned back to them in confusion.
"Nothing." Allison rolled her eyes at her sister.
They all moved forward as the attendant ushered them onto the carousal.
"Which horse do you want little dude?"
"The big black one."
"Alright!"
Allison got onto the bay horse that was in front of the black stallion. Rebekah helped Laddie get on the horse before she got onto the white mare that was beside his.
"So what are we imagining?"
After Rebekah asked this Laddie gave her a cross-eyes stare.
"What do you mean?"
"When you're on a carousal you have to imagine something. You have to be someone else or going somewhere to make these horses fly. It's the biggest secret about these horses. Imagination. It's something that we've always done, ever since we were little girls running along after our grandfather in Oklahoma."
"So what are we?" Allison spoke up looking over her shoulder at Laddie.
"Horse racers!"
"Jockeys? Alright. Well, let's see who will win this race!" Allison turned back around, bringing her legs up higher and lifting her bottom off of the seat.
"Dang it! I always lose this one. My horses are too slow. You gonna beat her little dude?"
Laddie grinned at her and started to whoop. "Of course I am. Let's get this race started!"
Both Laddie and Rebekah moved into faux jockey positions as the carousal started to move. The whooped and hollered and screamed as the horses started their slow rotation around the circular track.
"No! No! I'm falling behind! Every time! Damn it!" Rebekah plopped down onto the seat of the horse and began to pet the painted mane of her wooden horse.
"It's alright Calypso, we'll get them next time. Next race. We'll get them."
"You freak." Allison smirked as she looked at Rebekah over her shoulder.
"Go Laddie! Go! You're winning! You're winning! Beat the bitch! Beat her!" Rebekah cheered as she bounced up and down in her seat. Allison's smirk turned into a glower and then she turned back to face the front.
The ride slowed down and finally came to an end. Allison hopped off her horse in a tiff, whilst Rebekah practically flew down and pulled Laddie off of his seat.
"And the winner is," she drawled out the last word, bringing Laddie up onto her hip, "LADDIE!"
She jumped off of the carousal and then spun Laddie around in a circle by his arms. Allison jumped off and followed them as they both spun like exuberant children. She smiled happily and they all ran off towards the beach, whooping in exuberance.
As they ran both girls brushed the arm and hair of a girl that was walking with her boyfriend's arm around her shoulder heading toward the carousal.
Allison turned while walking backwards to smile and laugh meanly at the girl. The girl snarled at them and the boys following the couple glared and took a few steps forward. Allison just laughed more as she ran swiftly after her sister and Laddie.
The group got on the carousal after cutting in line, bypassing the large group of teens that had formed in the queue before they the group had arrived.
The couple got in one of the stationary carriages, two dun wooden horses were in front of it standing still, the glassy painted eyes stared blankly at the boardwalk.
The group of surfer boys got onto the collection of different colored horses that surrounded the couple. The entire group was laughing, talking, and joking with each other when a group of four boys wandered into their midst.
David and his gang had tracked the scent of their new sisters to the carousal but the sweaty bodies of the surfers were covering it all up. As they stalked along the twirling horses one girl caught David's attention. She looked like a coke whore and was hanging off of a surf nazi like it was going out of style. The girl was a despicable excuse of a human being but she did have something that he was looking for.
She was covered in his sisters' scents. It saturated her hair and the right side of her body. David smelt it and he wanted to find out how she got it.
He walked over to her and gently picked up a section of her hair. The cattle watched him with sparkling eyes, drawn in by both his beauty and his sensuality. He brought it up to his nose and inhaled deeply.
That's what they needed.
The unfiltered scent of his sisters flooded his nose. He ignored the unwashed filthy scent of the girl that the scents clung to and just focused on their scents. One of the scents was fresh like unprocessed wheat grass from the plains after a thunderstorm. It was a musty and sharp but not unpleasant. The other scent was like a forest, old scents mashed upon old scents. There was mint and pine with some rosemary woven in. It was an interesting mix when the ocean tang hit it.
He got to take one more deep breath before the man who was riding with the girl aggressively grabbed David's hand and shoved it away from them. David raised both his hands in a pacifying gesture before nodding to the boys to move on. As they passed the seated man tripped Paul causing him to collide with the Dwayne's back causing him to stumble as well.
The entire group turned aggressively toward the man but in almost the same instance his gang were off their horses and on the side of the seated man. The boys jumped off of the still moving carousal to follow David as he moved confidently towards the beach. His nose was subtly up and the nostrils flared with every breath.
He led them onto the beach and followed the scent on a seemingly endless circuitous trail. Looking down there were three trails visible in the damp sand. It caused curiosity to spike within him as he noticed that one of the trails was much smaller than the other two.
Who was traveling with their sisters?
A wave of possessive jealousy enveloped David as he looked at those small footprints. Who was with them when their own brothers could not? What gave them the right to be with them! Here they were searching relentlessly, when they could do so many other things, they could be having a wonderful night, and instead they were chasing two girls all around a beach.
David's frustration with the situation smoldered in his gullet. It was inconceivable that a group of four vampires could not find two girls whose scents they knew. It was a disgusting situation, one that David resented to the core of his being.
David stopped moving.
The boys behind him stopped as well.
"Did you lose the scent?" Paul asked, the cocky grin falling from his face.
"No but I'm done."
"Done?" Marko spoke up, nose crinkled in confusion.
"I'm not going to participate in this clusterfuck anymore."
"They're our sisters! We have to find them!" Paul immediately jumped to the absentees' defense.
Dwayne was staring at David, eyes inscrutable. "Then go."
The slight flinch under David's right eye was the only response he gave. He turned on his heel and faded into the dark under the boardwalk.
Dwayne sneered at David's back before stalking off to follow the scent trail that was gradually going cold.
Paul and Marko tried to watch the other two members of their group inconspicuously but failed to do so. The obviousness of their glances would be amusing in any other situation but the one that the group found itself in.
Paul detached himself from Marko and began to walk away. He waved four fingers over his shoulder as he wandered off towards the shadows where David had disappeared. Marko waved back a single finger salute. Marko wandered after Dwayne chewing anxiously on his right thumb.
Behind Marko passed Star following a boy with brown hair back onto the boardwalk. She walked slightly behind him with her head down like she was ashamed. The boy paused when he got to the top of the stairs that lead to the boardwalk. Star also stopped.
"Hey, come here." He reached out and took ahold of Star's arm gently guiding her to stand by his side. "No standing behind me alright?"
He smiled down at her as he nonchalantly placed his arm around her shoulder. Star hesitantly leaned into his side, looking up at him for any sign of dissatisfaction. He just smiled more broadly before squeezing her closer to him.
"Michael."
Star spoke softly but with great affection as she raised her hand to interlace it with the one that was hanging off of her shoulder.
They both started to walk together, steps in sync and stride the same length, towards the end of the boardwalk where Michael had parked his bike. As they meandered along they stopped to play some of the boardwalk games or to look at the clothing stands that were on the periphery.
Time passed quickly as they walked around ignoring their surroundings until they finally got to Michael's bike. Star's eyebrows rose slightly when looking at the old model motorbike in front of her. Michael was parked next to the last store on the boardwalk, Frog's comic.
The store had an open façade with two large doors that could swing close. There were two dank windows and the lighting itself was mediocre and dark. There were two adults collapsed upon the counter, heads resting on crossed arms and the occasional snore escaping their prone forms. Three boys were wondering among the stacks, a blond boy who was removing comics from one section and placing them in another, all while complaining loudly to the two brunets that were following him.
"Excuse me? Can we bring food in here if it's in the take out baggy?"
The boys stopped and turned at the voice.
Rebekah was hanging in the doorway, one arm wrapped around Laddie, the other holding onto a big plastic bag that had the Pacific Thai logo on it.
"Hello? Little dude wants to see the Superman comics. I don't know why, I think Batman is much cooler but he's adamant."
"Yeah, you can come in. But no eating it or spilling it anywhere!" One of the brunets growled out.
"Oh, yeah, because I planned on wasting my nine dollars on food that I wanted to throw around a dark comic book store. Chill Rambo."
Rebekah sauntered into the store, Laddie and Allison followed in her wake. Laddie looked around with wide eyes leaving Rebekah's side to touch the comics like they were made of gold. Allison just moved to a corner of the store and leaned against it, her dark eyes darting at all the store's occupants.
"How many comics do you have already Laddie?" Rebekah asked as she thumbed through a section of some comics that made her grimace.
"None."
Rebekah stopped her browsing and stared at Laddie. She blinked a few times before shaking her head as if clearing it. She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a crumpled ten dollar bill.
"Who works here?"
The boy who growled at them earlier stalked over to Rebekah. She shoved the money into his head and leaned in close to him.
"Alright, I need you to get as many Superman comics as this money can buy. Start from one and go up alright? All of them superman but one; there needs to be one Batman. Capeesh?"
The blond boy came up and took the money. "I've got this."
The boys all seemed to congregate, the brunets arguing about the comics that the blond was picking out. The blond sneered at the other boys before continuing to search on his own, picking up comics and shoving them into the gruff boy's arms.
The brunets then went behind the counter, reached around the dozing adults and grabbed a bag and shoved the multitude of comics into it roughly.
"Hey! Neo maxie-dweebs! No damaging the merchandise! I'm not paying full price if it's damaged."
Rebekah's voice startled all of the distracted boys as they turned their heads to look at her. She had her hands on her hips and her legs were shoulder length apart.
The blond came up to her after snatching the bag from the stoic brunet.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm Sam, those two are Edgar and Alan Frog." The boy glanced down bit his lip before looking back at her shyly handing her the bag full of comics. "We're not dweebs you know." He spoke in a whisper.
Allison left the corner and took the Chinese food from Rebekah. Rebekah smiled at her before focusing on Sam once again.
"Look dude, do you know what happens in this comic?" She held up a Superman #64.
The blonde's face lit up. "Oh yeah! So Superman is-"
"Stop. I really don't care. You know what's in it by simply looking at the cover and the edition number. You are a dweeb. But no one said that being a dweeb is a bad thing. Now go away." She chucked him on the chin before waving to her group.
"Let's go guys! Have to get Laddie to his bros, see ya Sammy!"
The group walked out of the open doors and back into the salty tangy sea air. Allison took a deep breath before groaning as she released the breath. "So much better than Chicago!" She moaned aloud.
"What the hell? What brought that one on?" Rebekah looked over at her sister.
"It doesn't smell like shit here. I like it."
Laddie, listening in, was very pleased with this new piece of information. It was one more thing to talk about with his brothers when he got back to them. He leaned forward to pick Rebekah's hand back up.
"Where are you going Star?"
The new voice caused Rebekah to pull up short. She shivered as goose bumps rose upon her flesh. She licked her lips nervously before pulling the bottom one into her mouth to chew it vigourously. She fought the urge to grab her family, Laddie included, and run. She wanted to run far away until the sun came up and the monsters that stalked at night.
Laddie let go of Rebekah's hand and ran happily towards the boys that were on the four idling bikes. Allison lunged forward trying to grab Laddie but her fingers only brushed his shoulder.
"Dwayne! Dwayne! Guess who I found?"
Laddie's loud call cut through the tension filled air like a gunshot in a crowded room. The girls froze, muscles tensed and bodies flighty. Rebekah moved slowly till her body was slightly in front of her sister, shielding a portion of her body from the rest of the group.
"This is Rebekah and Allison. We've done so much stuff tonight! They took me on the carousal and then we ran around on the beach. They've fed me already so you guys don't have to worry about it. And they bought me Superman comics! One second I'll show them to you!"
Laddie skipped over to Rebekah, grabbed her hand, and began to pull the resisting girl behind him as he wandered back towards the boys on the bikes. Rebekah steadied herself, pushing her shoulders back, raising her chin, and slapping a smirk onto her lips.
"Whoa, what happened to your face?" Paul asked loudly with no tact.
"I ran into a fist. You should see the other guy." An actual smile broke out onto Rebekah's face as she relaxed into the conversation.
The boys exchanged knowing smiles; all of them were filled with vindictive smugness.
"So who's who?"
Paul jumped up eagerly. "Hey! Over here we have David, he's the boss dude, there's the dark dangerous Dwayne, and the one with fashion sense Marko. I'm the good looking one, Paul."
Paul was eagerly talking, rocking onto the balls of his feet, arms waving to encompass the entire group.
"Cool. Who are you?" Rebekah responded with a droll face before turning to face the small group behind her.
Star looked at her surprised that she had not only wanted to know who she was but that she had turned her back onto the predators that it was obvious she was uncomfortable with.
"Wait a second. You're that dickhead! Fuck it, I don't care anymore." Rebekah promptly turned back around, her bun bouncing along at the top of her head.
"Anyway, as Laddie said I'm Rebe-"
"Hey fuckers!"
Rebekah was cut off as a brutal force shoved into her shoulder causing her to drop the bulging bag full of comics onto the boardwalk. She crouched down, beginning to pick up the fallen comics when she noticed a dirty sneaker crinkling the cover of the only Batman comic she had bought.
"Hey, fucker, move your foot. You're damaging the merchandise." She tapped the tanned skin above the sneaker's edge.
The lost boys watched the interaction closely, Paul inching closer to the group of surf Nazis that had approached them.
The man who had talked looked down at Rebekah, smirked, then raised his foot and kicked Rebekah in the shoulder knocking her down hard. She yelped as she hit the ground before turning an incredulous look to the man before her. All of the boys got off of their bikes, aggression flowing like red-hot fire through their veins. Allison moved forward grabbing Laddie and pulling him behind her and the rest of the group.
Rebekah pushed herself off the ground, baring her teeth in a mockery of a smile at the man who pushed her. She put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing his chest in sensual circles. The man grinned at her before reaching his arm to place it over her shoulder.
Rebekah grabbed his arm at the elbow and his shirt and swung around, using the momentum from her swing and his weight against him and tossed him easily over the railing of the boardwalk onto the hard packed sand below.
She turned around, stretching her arms out in front of her and interlacing her fingers to pop the joints before looking at the rest of the Nazis. Loud screams of pain were vibrating in the air from the man below, cries about his leg and blood echoing up to the still groups above.
"Who's next?"
Before the Surf Nazis had a chance to make a move a portly security guard jogged into the fray. He was breathing heavily by the time he came to a stop but this did not stop him from getting exceedingly close to David's face with a sneer. The Nazis split leaving the Lost Boys and their collected group of humans to deal with the guard.
"I thought I told you not to be on the boardwalk."
David raised his hands.
"We were just leaving."
The guard turned to leave but paused when he heard a crinkling sound underneath his shoe. He looked down. Under his black sneaker clad foot was an old Batman comic. Rebekah moved closer before she started to lean down to pick the comic up.
"Hey, sorry but could you move your foot a little? My comics dropped."
The guard gave Rebekah a once over before a disgusted look washed over his face. He looked over at David's group then back at Rebekah before twisting the foot that was placed on the comic. A loud tearing sound ripped through the air. He snorted as his portly form leisurely made its way back to the bright lights of the main boardwalk.
"Fucker." Rebekah muttered to herself as she picks the ruined comic up. "Well, Laddie, looks like ya get your wish. No Batman for you." She tosses the comic into the trash bin disappointment plain on her face.
"Here you go." She hands the bag with the rest of the comics to Laddie. "At least I wasn't carrying the food huh?" She asks Allison sighing.
"So since this hasn't really been my night, I'm going to go back home now. Come on Ali, let's go watch that movie we rented. See ya later Laddie. Nice to meet you guys, even though you were kinda useless in the situation. Just saying."
Paul jumped forward. "Do you need someone to take you home? I volunteer myself and Marko!"
"No." Allison's husky voice seemed louder in the open air.
"We're cool. Thanks."
Rebekah stalked off, Allison following a few feet behind her. Laddie watched them go, a heart-wrenching sadness flowing off of him in droves.
"Laddie go with Star. Star, go visit with the video store owner. He wanted to talk to you."
The two addressed persons resignedly made their way to the main boardwalk, sticking close to each other. Michael watched Star obey David's command without question before swallowing hard and starting his bike. He went the opposite direction, towards the sleepy center of Santa Carla instead of the bustling downtown.
"At least we met them." Marko commented as Paul fished the Batman comic out of the trashcan. He tossed it at Marko who caught it easily.
"Think you can fix that?"
Marko looked the book over before rolling it up and putting it into an inside pocket of his colorful jacket.
"Yeah, should be easy for me."
"We know their names now."
This was the first time that Dwayne had spoken since they had formally met the girls.
"Yeah! That's a great plus huh?" Paul interjected eagerly.
"Does anyone else want something salty to eat? I'm craving something that likes to swim."
Three heads turned to look at David in confusion before comprehension slowly dawned in them.
"Why not? I can always eat the same thing twice in a row."
Marko's cherubic smile turned into devilish laughter as the boys disappeared into the darkened underbelly of the boardwalk.
Screams of terror blended in with the raucous noise of laughter and carnival music. No one came to investigate or help.
The doors of the comic shop closed silently as Edgar and Alan moved away from the windows, waiting for the sun to rise.