David and I were the only ones left in the cave after I brought Marko back from the permanent state of death he had been in.
All it took was pouring the vial over his heart, and a few gulps of Max's blood from the jeweled bottle before he leapt into the air with an overly feral look about him.
He was now outside with Dwayne and Paul, who were filling him in on what had gone down after they had - not so discretely - returned Michael's bike to his home.
It seemed that they all believed me now.
David was sitting as stoic as a statue in one of the ratty arm chairs in the cave, his eyes focused away from mine in thought.
"David…" I whispered as I moved closer to him, kneeling down so that my chin was resting against his knees. "Will you please look at me, even if you won't speak?"
"You saved my brothers and me," David finally spoke as he turned his eyes down to meet mine. "I'm not one to normally show thanks to anyone – "
"I don't need thanks," I cut him off with a frown. "I just need to know that you could care for me the way that you were destined to. I need to know who's life you value more – your soul mates, or your sire's."
"I don't have the ability to love, Rhiannon."
"You don't have to love me," I said with a hurt voice. "You just have to choose me. I'm yours – no one else's. You'll never have to worry that I will leave you or – or anything. My decision is to be with you; what's yours?"
"First, I have a question for you," David stated in his usually hard voice. I gave him a nod to continue. I would answer anything for him at that point. "What's the real reason that you didn't feed when you were given the chance? Do you not want to be one of us?"
"If I feed, then my body dies. If my body dies, then I go back to my own time. I couldn't kill anyone then," I clasped my hands down harder against his legs to ensure that I had his full attention. "I have no reservations against becoming like you. I would have to in order to be with you for eternity. That's a sacrifice that I am more than willing to make."
"You'd be willing to die to be with me?" David asked with a look of disbelief.
"Yes, I would die for you," I answered in the most determined of voices. "After what happened with Marko, I would kill for you as well."
Without uttering another word, David leaned forward and grasped my face in the hand that was not burned by the sun earlier in the day. He searched my eyes for a moment, and after he seemed satisfied with what he saw there, he pressed his lips to mine.
We had already had sex, but the emotion that was built up in that kiss was full of more fire than anything I had ever felt.
I couldn't deny it any longer.
I loved David.
He didn't need to love me. I could deal with that. But, I loved him.
I would fight with everything in me to be his for the rest of my existence.
"We have to kill Max."
I was brought back to a present state of mind at the sound of his voice, "I know how it was supposed to happen, but things have changed. I – I don't know now…"
"I do."
I clutched onto David's waist as we zoomed down the beach towards the boardwalk. I had called Michael from a payphone and asked him to bring everyone and meet us there.
The tone he took with me was not one of Michael; it was a tone of a parent.
"Fuck, Rhiannon. Do you know how worried I was? Do you know how angry I am? How could you leave? How could you have been so stupid?"
Despite his words, I desperately missed my Dad. I couldn't wait to be back home and in his comforting arms.
We pulled up to where Star, Laddie, the Emerson boys and the Frog brothers were waiting just moments later. It was just off of a crowded part of the boardwalk; far enough to talk but close enough to where no one would dare to act on their violent impulses.
I released my hold on David as we came to a sudden halt and Dwayne, Paul and Marko slid in beside us.
Edgar froze as Marko looked at him with a smirk, "I... I staked you."
"It didn't stick," Paul laughed with a glare in his eyes.
"H – How?" Star spoke up, a rare occasion of all being able to hear her voice.
"Rhiannon brought him back," David declared as he helped me off of his bike and slipped an arm around my waist with a smirk.
"Witch!" Alan grunted with a pointed finger.
I gave him a small sneer, "I'm not a witch, you moron."
"What are you, then?" Sam asked as he lingered halfway behind Michael.
"I'm a…" I took a small pause before I finished. These words just sounded so farfetched, regardless of how true they were. "… time traveler, sent by a witch with a penchant for potions, if you need to know." I held a hand up as one of the Frog's was about to speak. "I know it sounds crazy. However, you're here because of vampires. What makes witches so much different when it all boils down?"
"Okay, well…" Michael began with a strange look on his face. "If we believe that's what you are, then I want to know who you are."
Paul let out a booming laugh, "She's – "
Dwayne slammed a hand over his brother's mouth, "That's hers to tell, not yours."
I stepped forward and out of David's hold as I crossed the invisible barrier between the two groups. I stood across from Michael and Star as I brushed my curled hair back from my face, "My name is Rhiannon Emerson."
I expected Michael to be the first to speak, but it was Star that broke the silence, "How… what year…?"
"2012."
Star's eyes softened in an instant.
Mom told me in passing that should she find out, she would probably be quick to believe. She had seen so many things since the Lost Boys had taken hold of her… this would be something that wouldn't have fazed her.
Star stepped forward so that we were toe to toe and she looked down at me with her head cocked to the side. Her eyes scanned over every detail of me without a word being spoken.
Minus a few features that I had inherited from Michael, we could have been sisters.
This didn't go unnoticed.
"25 years," Star mused quietly as she reached out to brush a finger across my cheekbone. Her eyes locked with mine as realization finally hit her. "I don't think I have even spoken to you."
"It's okay," I shrugged with a small laugh. "You told me that you probably wouldn't."
"I am so sorry…" Star breathed out as she wrapped her bangled arms around my shoulders in a hug that I desperately craved.
"It's okay, Mom," I whispered just loud enough for only her to hear. She tensed for a moment before pressing a kiss to my cheek and pulling backwards.
That was when I noticed that Michael's eyes had not left me.
He understood.
He understood why he felt so protective of me upon our first encounter. Why he kept me safe.
Michael understood that, to me, he was not just Michael.
My blood was his.
He quickly moved into the spot that Star had been in and placed his hands on my shoulders, "I don't know if I believe this."
"Yes, you do," I chuckled softly as I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "You have to believe in this… in me. Otherwise, we're all fucked."
"Do I let you talk like that in your time?" Michael teased as he squeezed my shoulder with his left hand.
"No, but… right now we're the same age. I think I can get away a bit more."
"True," Michael nodded with a laugh as he brought me to his chest in a hug. I quickly melted against his touch as a shallow, shaking breath escaped my lips. This was what I needed. "I believe in you, Rhiannon."
"Okay, hold up!" Sam stepped forward with his hands dramatically thrown in the air. "You're all telling me that this is my… niece? Is everyone here high?"
I pulled out of Michael's hold and pulled the photograph back out of my purse, "I should have handed this over earlier, Uncle Sammy."
Sam flinched as I threw the photo towards him, but caught it before it hit the ground. His eyes flickered down to his hands as he unfolded it, "Oh." Michael and Star were next to move up beside him, Laddie at her hip, while the Frog brothers maintained their distance with bitter faces and uneasy glances towards me and the vampires flanked behind me. "Well, uh…"
Michael smirked as he clasped Sam on the shoulder, while Star looked from Laddie to the older boy in the photo as realization set in. Her eyes glazed over in tears as she looked up to meet mine and I gave her a small nod to confirm her thoughts.
"We're listening."