I woke the next afternoon in Michael's bed with no recollection of how I got there.
I was dressed, though my clothes were disheveled and I could feel my sweat soaked hair matted to my head.
I rolled over onto my side, grateful that the sun was setting to spare my eyes.
Michael was sitting on a chair across the room, his hair wet and his skin shallow.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked with a wince as I sat up and rubbed gently at my abdomen.
"I'm not sure…" He answered truthfully. "What time did you get in?"
I shrugged as I let out a few small coughs, "When did you get back?"
"This morning," A small smirk broke out on his face. "I went to see Star, and uh -"
"Spare me the details," I held up a hand as I laughed, fighting back a mental image. "I get it. Good for you."
"It was strange, everything," He mumbled under his breath as I caught him looking at his hand, which was no longer sporting a bite mark from Nanook. He looked back up with a shake of his head. "What did you get up to?"
I scrunched my face up as I looked down at my body, eyes widening at the lack of marks that I was sure were there the night before, "Huh… oh, uh… David found me."
"What happened?" He immediately perked up, his expression turning to disbelief at the look on mine seconds later. "You… and him? Really?"
"It's not like I planned it." Well, not really.
"Be careful with him, okay?" His father voice came out, though he didn't even know it. "Something weird is going on."
"Yeah, tell me about it."
"Who was at the door?"
I was waiting at the end of the driveway with Mike's bike. I had shimmied down the side of the house again while he had exited through the front door. I saw a car pull down the driveway from where I was waiting in the shadows, but couldn't see much in the dark, surprisingly enough.
"My mom's new boyfriend, Max," Michael almost growled.
I fought to hold back an expression. That was Max?
I had forgotten about him… I didn't even know what I was doing anymore.
I just needed to let life play out, that was all.
It was proving problematic.
"How is he?" I asked casually.
"He looked like a bit of a tool, really," Michael shrugged as he kicked the bike to life. "We need to take care of something."
I nodded as I gripped his waist, his high temperament starting to rub off on me; irritability at its worst.
We went by the caves first and found them empty, which had Mike in a rage. Star should have been there for him, for us.
Though my Mom hadn't addressed me personally in the one time I saw her, I desperately wanted to see her again.
We were never as close as Dad and I were, but that was irrelevant.
She was my blood, after all.
When she wasn't there, David was his next target.
xxx
He slammed his bike to a stop once we reached the beach, his eyes locked on where he saw the boys in the distance. "Michael! Hey, wait!" I chased after him, cringing as he pulled Marko out of the way and he and David practically grabbed at each other's throats.
"Where is she?" Michael's voice was sharp.
It sent a chill of fear down my spine. It wasn't a tone that I was used to.
David blew a gust of smoke from his cigarette into Mike's face and chuckled, "Take it easy, Michael."
"Where's Star, David?"
"Michael… if you ever want to see Star again, you better come with us now."
The boys stopped the bikes at the edge of a hill, behind a large tree on the edge of a part of the beach Michael and I weren't familiar with.
David, Marko, Dwayne and Paul immediately ran and latched themselves up into the short tree ahead of us, all looking like they were eager for a fight.
I looked on curiously and instantly recognized the two men that had given me a hard time when I first showed up on the Boardwalk just days before.
David shot a look back at me and I knew that it wasn't a coincidence.
My heart was pounding all the way in my head as I slumped down at the base of the tree, my chest heaving violently. I heard David say Michael's name and my head slowly turned backwards to see him looking as ragged and terrifying as I did.
It made my insides rage even further.
Why hadn't I tried to prevent it? Fear… yeah, that was it.
"You don't want to miss this," David's rough voice rang out again as Marko giggled.
Michael climbed off of his motorcycle and ran directly up into the tree, sitting down between the branches behind me. We both turned our attention back to the drunk, rowdy group in the distance.
"Initiation's over," David stated in a harsh tone. "It's time to join the club."
My jaw dropped as I looked upwards at the laughing boys, who now had fangs and bigger laughs than before.
My hands gripped at the ground below me as I felt Michael clutch tighter to the tree, our heads swimming once again.
David's face twisted and before I knew it, the four were flying off towards the party.
"Michael…" I whispered as I bit down on my bottom lip, drawing a trickle of blood from it.
Screams immediately filled the air, along with the rusty smell of blood.
It was like a car crash. It was awful, but I couldn't bear to look away.
I was getting the blood lust; it was filling me up and I was fighting everything in me not to rush forward and help Paul tear that guys scalp off…
David began calling our names and I pushed myself backwards into the truck of the tree, my nearly bare back scraping at the trunk.
I can't give in. I'll die… I can't fix things if I die.
I could feel the hunger tearing at me from the inside as my eyes throbbed and burned. I looked up to find Michael as he let out a scream before he began rolling backwards down the hill towards the bikes.
It took a few beats before I was able to tear myself from the scene at the fire to slide around and down to him. I nestled myself behind him and helped him to sit up, the wind blowing the sand around our tense figures.
Moments later, David and the boys came over the hill. They were all doused in blood, most with devilish smirks on their faces.
They looked completely feral.
"So," David began with a sharp intake of unneeded air. "Now you know what we are; now you know what you are." Michael looked back at me in disbelief as David continued. "Rhiannon, Michael… you'll never grow old, and you'll never die. But, you must feed."
His mouth tensed up, looking as if he was ready to rip someone else open by just saying the word.
They all began to laugh again as Michael dropped his head against my shoulder and I let my eyes fall closed, almost hoping that it was all a bad dream.