'She can ride up front with me, I've got enough space here for her,' beamed Marco the next evening, sliding back on his seat to gesture provocatively to his crotch as he sucked on his lower lip and gave Star the eye.

'Cool it man, the girl's mine!' Paul socked the younger boy in the arm as he draped himself over the handlebars of his own bike and raised a brow, cocking his head to the left. 'What'dya say, sweetcheeks? You can cling to me anytime. You like it fast, huh?' he asked playfully, ignoring the daggers Dwayne was shooting him. 'Me too.' Paul blew an air kiss and grinned as Dwayne growled.

'Quit it guys, I mean it. Next one to come on to her will get my fist in their face.'

Star shrank back as Paul licked his lips lasciviously, only to be knocked flying off his bike as Dwayne descended on him. Dust rose from the ground as each fought for the upper hand, Dwayne easily outweighed the slighter Paul as they rolled, his muscles bulging beneath his leather jacket. But Paul was just as strong, flicking Dwayne off his chest with his feet, as though he were as light and irritating as a fly. Marco's laugher rang around the rocky walls, punctuated by Star's gasp of horror as Paul struck a fierce blow across her brother's jaw. Dwayne's loose, long hair shrouded them both as he shook the punch off and snarled, grabbing at Paul's fist and fiercely twisting it to the point that Star was flinching in expectation of a snap.

'What the hell is going on?' David asked, lowly, pulling up the leather collar on his long woollen coat. 'Can I not leave you boys alone for five minutes? Get the fuck up. Get on your bikes and sort yourselves out. Seems to me like she's already more trouble than she's worth. Star rides with Paul. Now go. I've got places to be.'

As though they had been reprimanded by a schoolmaster, the boys dusted themselves off and climbed silently aboard their bikes. Paul smirked as Star slid obediently behind him, her warm arms gripping at his waist. The revs echoed loudly around the little alcove as Paul coaxed his bike between the rocks and led the way out into the night.

Star clung tight to Paul, the creaking leather of his jacket cool against her cheek as she turned her head to catch a glance at Dwayne who rode behind them. His jaw was set in that silent, stubborn way she had, his dark hair streaming out behind him like hers was. When she caught the sight of the foaming water lapping at the cliffs below only inches from the spinning tyres of the bike, from the corner of her eye she had to turn back to Paul and press her face into his back. She could feel the change in texture as the wheels rode from bumpy stone to skidding sand that would fly up and sting her bare legs, the long skirt of her still blood-soaked dress lifted by the rush as they rode. Star didn't dare open her eyes again until she could feel the bike slow and she heard the idling engines of her brother and Marco behind. Stretching her stiff fingers, she coaxed them away from Paul's waist as he sighed dramatically.

'Aww, really? I was enjoying that hug, girl.'

'Star, here.' Dwayne eased his bike to a stop beside Paul's and she climbed unquestioningly from one to the other. Marco laughed, his wide eyes flickering from one to the other. He was the youngest in terms of having changed, and physically the smallest of all of the boys. His face still bore the rounded features of youth in comparison to the rugged lines of the other three men and he was still learning to control his lust. Bright blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he tilted his chin up and sniffed at the air with a grin.

'Marco,' Dwayne warned, lowly. 'Remember we talked about caution. We have to scout the area first, then find out who they are.'

'Listen to that beat, man,' Paul smiled, closing his eyes as he swayed jerkily on his bike. It was only then that the sounds of music and laughter drifted to Star's ears, some jazzy beat that was almost swallowed by the rolling tide as it crept in over the damp sand, the light laughter muffled by the gentle rise of a few sand dunes.

'How many?' Dwayne asked Marco, who frowned for a moment as though listening for something.

'Five? No, no,' he corrected himself, seeing Paul's raised eyebrow. 'I can hear four.'

'Fight you for the last one, winner takes it. In the ass, if it's a hottie,' Paul laughed despite the uncertain look on Dwayne's face.

'Stay behind me, Star. Don't wonder off no matter what you see or hear,' he cautioned. 'If you want to belong, this is what we are.' He nodded very slightly to Marco to take the lead as they kicked the stands from beneath their bikes and leaned them in the sand, high enough up the beach that the creeping tide wouldn't reach them. Weaving their way between the thick, yellowing sea-grass, Star couldn't help but notice how pretty it was out here. The sky was a deep, inky blue lightened only by the smattering of silver stars and the glow of a pale moon that was almost full. Smoke drifted up slowly from somewhere in front of them, weaving grey tendrils into the still air that hung and shimmered above the blaze of an orange fire. More laughter floated their way, the echoes of a group of friends having a good time.

A stunted, withered tree, bleached white from the salty air loomed beside them and Dwayne, crouched low beside her as the four of them crept stealthily up the bank, motioned to it.

'Stay there. Don't come any closer, no matter what. Don't move. Don't make a sound.'

'If you want to be one of us, this is what we are,' Paul added, echoing Dwayne's earlier words with a cold smirk. His features seemed to change then, to elongate and twist, but then that could have been a trick of the light as a sudden and unexpected breeze brought the tendrils of campfire smoke over to them. But nothing could have prepared Star for the flat, black, animalistic light in his eyes. When she looked at Dwayne, she could see that his teeth seemed to sparkle wickedly sharp in the gloom as he grinned too, almost as though his teeth had instantly grown too big for his mouth.

Star bit her lip, pressing her palm against the rough, pale bark of the tree as she shrank back on her heels and glanced down at the gathering below.

The little group hadn't even noticed the four collected upon the bank above them. Beside an old mustard coloured camper, with a bumper sticker that read NO Nuclear Weapons, a peace symbol replacing the O, a girl was dancing bare chested beside a roaring campfire. Even though the music that was playing from a ghetto blaster buried beneath a cool-box full of beer was up-tempo and jazzy, the girl was swaying her hips in a slow and seductive way which made her long blonde hair shimmer as it swung around her shoulders and caressed her naked breasts. Her long bare arms were stretched out in front, hands weaving deliberately as though she were a hula dancer played frame by frame. Another girl, another blonde, lay across the lap of the man beside her. Star's first thought was that she was sleeping, but as she watched the man lean back and caught his gentle moan, she realised the girl's head was moving up and down with measured movements. The shaggy looking-surfer dude grinned slowly and wound his hand in the girl's hair, pulling her mouth faster and further against himself.

A crack and a hiss drew her attention to the other guy beside him, who was sitting cross-legged and slack-jawed as he stared at the dancing girl. He was much darker than the other guy, but his untamed hair and lurid tie-dye t-shirt marked him out as a surfer too. He slurped at the can of beer he'd just opened without taking his greedy eyes off the girl dancing beside the fire they'd built. Four people, just like Marco said, and none of them had noticed the three boys above who were circling them like vultures. She saw the blonde guy nudge his companion, both of them laughing as he grabbed the girl's hair with both hands now and rammed his hips up into her face. Neither of them noticed Dwayne's nod.

'Shit…' murmured the darker of the two men, dropping the lit joint from his loose fingers as Marco swooped down the bank towards them with his wicked sharp teeth bared. The dancing girl screamed in horror as she watched Marco grab a handful of dark hair and wrench back the man's head to expose his throat. With a happy smile that was made sickeningly horrific by his sharp, elongated teeth, Marco bit into the man's throat. The guy beside him flung the girl off his lap, cock still dangling as he scrambled, wordless in his terror, to escape. The girl, barely in her teens, rolled on her side as she was tossed backwards and knocked into her screaming companion, who marginally escaped stepping into the roaring campfire. Both girls screamed again, turning Star's blood to ice in her veins, the music from the ghetto blaster drowned out by the thud of her heartbeat in her ears and the soul-wrenching cries of the girls as they clung together in their terror.

Star covered her eyes with one hand, the other clutching desperately at the salt-white bark of the tree beside her. Her head spun and her stomach lurched, she couldn't even run if she wanted to.

Paul's good-natured laugh rang out across the music and the terror as he joined the fray, back-flipping with the ease of a gymnast into the soft sand.

'Where'd you think you're going, man? The party's just getting started!' He hauled the blonde guy out of the shadows, his t-shirt ripping as he struggled to run away. 'Hey! You bought snacks for everybody!' Paul gestured to the girls who clung together like drowning men on a lifeboat as the vampire bared his thick fangs and ripped the top off the blonde man's skull, peeling back the skin, hair and all, to lap hungrily at the blood that spilled forth.

'Fuck off,' Dwayne growled at the two hysterical girls before spinning in a fury of long, dark hair and feasting with Marco. Star didn't see whether the shrieking, hysterical girls were compliant or not. Pressing her back to the tree so she didn't have to look at the torturous horror below she trembled with the cry of agony that longed to spill out of her, hot tears of disgust streaming down her ghost-white cheeks that had long since drained of colour.

'Do you still want to be one of us?' David smirked, crouched down on one knee in front of her. His amused, gravelly voice made Star's brown eyes snap open. 'Now that you've seen what horrific monsters we are, do you still want to belong to us? Belong to me?'

'I have nowhere else to go,' the enormousness of this statement hit Star. She'd been abandoned most of her life by her mother first, her alcoholic father and then her brother. The hot tears were no longer for the terrified, terrorised girls who now ran half naked through Santa Carla, who would no doubt require years of counselling to get over what they'd just seen, but for herself. 'I have no other choice.'

David, beautiful and pale in the silver moonlight, stroked the white-blonde stubble on his cheek with a leather-clad finger as he contemplated her coolly.

'No you don't,' he admitted. Santa Carla was a cruel, unforgiving mistress to those who were alone. 'But just remember. Things aren't always as they seem.' He grabbed Star's head, coaxing her chin around so she could see the scene below. The boys were good, some twisted part in the back of her mind admitted. Hardly a drop of blood had been spilt. Marco had finished draining the dark haired guy and tossed him lifelessly aside, snarling at Dwayne who lay a restraining arm on him as he turned to pursue the girls into the long beach-grass.

'That one,' David murmured in her ear, his lips so close they brushed coldly over her flesh and caused her to shiver involuntarily. 'He was a drug-pusher. Peddled so many bad E's over the last four months that three teenagers have died. Smoked most of his profits though. One of Santa Carla cop's most wanted. This one,' David guided Star's gaze with his fingers on her chin, to the second man, the blonde one who'd been riding the face of the girl when they'd turned up. 'This one, wanted two towns over for grooming underage for sex. Check in his hippie truck, you'll find all kinds of souvenirs he's taken from his victims. And many things he intended to use on the next one. It would seem we've just saved these girls from a worse nightmare than us. We're very choosey in who we kill.'

He let go of Star abruptly and leapt down to join the others, who were whooping and hi-fiving each other noisily. Paul helped himself to a beer from the cooler and tossed one to Marco, who caught it with a laugh and popped it open.

'Nice work, boys,' David said, taking the open beer from Paul's hand. Dwayne bent down to the ghetto blaster and fiddled with the dials, blasting static for a moment, before he picked up some moody rock and roll band.

'Star,' he called, above the music, and held his hand out for her to join them. Marco and Paul rolled the two lifeless bodies out into the shadows to dispose of, so it was only David who watched with that little amused smile on his lips as she climbed hesitantly down the embankment. She stood with her tear-streaked face, illuminated by the dying glow of the flickering fire, unsure and hesitant.

'We won't hurt you,' Dwayne said softly. 'Those men were-'

'I know,' she cut in, her trembling voice barely above a whisper. But it didn't make it feel any easier to know that her brother was a cold-blooded killer. 'What are you?' she asked, glancing at David.

'Hunters.' Dwayne's tone was almost apologetic.

'Killers,' Paul's was not. He and Marco appeared behind the other two and settled themselves on the sand either side of the fire.

'Vampires,' Marco all but laughed, proudly as he sprawled out in the warmth of the fire and slurped his beer.

'The Lost Boys,' David laughed.

'Vampires aren't real.' Star sounded

as though she was trying to convince herself.

'Nah, you're awake girl. This ain't no dream. We're as real as your tits and your ass.' Paul leant forward eagerly as Marco snickered at his comment.

'Marco here was the last to change,' David motioned to the curly haired, younger boy. 'Dwayne before that.' Star glanced at her brother, who sat in the sand with his elbows resting on his knees, the sway of his long black hair the only indication that he had nodded as his head was bowed. 'Paul is older, though you wouldn't think it sometimes. And me. Well, let's just say I've got a few tales I could tell. Wise beyond my years I think is the expression, right?' David's ice blue eyes glinted intelligently. 'We are careful about where and when we feed, most times,' he shot a meaningful look at Marco, who looked a little abashed. 'Santa Carla is an excellent feeding ground for us. So much corruption, it makes it so easy. We aren't doing anything bad, in fact, we're thinning out the bad, helping to establish justice.' The other boys laughed at this explanation.

'No one we feed from is an innocent,' Dwayne added, looking up at his sister, who sat huddled by herself on the other side of the flames that were low and bright.

'We're like vigilantes of the supernatural world!' Paul exclaimed, chinking his can against Marco's as he crossed his legs to sit beside him.

'And this is the world you've chosen to join. To belong to.' David said with unblinking eyes. He crooked his finger and beckoned Star over to him, gesturing with a swift jerk of his platinum head for her to come closer and sit on his knee. Star obeyed, her black eyes wide and unsure.