Star watched with silent alarm as David and the boys put their bikes out of sight and headed towards the cave. What was he doing? In the time she had been with them, he'd never taken anyone down into the cave, except for Laddie, and look how that had turned out. She was sure he was going to kill him, he would probably kill her too after tonight. David pushed her ahead of him and Michael trailed a little behind them. They walked for a while before David began to speak to him.
'Where are you from Michael?' She heard David ask and her nervousness increased.
'Phoenix. I just moved here with my mom and brother.' She listened with interest at Michael's response, relieved he sounded so normal. He was just what she wanted him to be.
'Mom and brother huh?' David said, making her wonder if his interest in what Michael had to say was genuine.
'Yeah, my brother is younger and is going to start school in the fall and mom just got a job in a video store.' Michael said. She enjoyed the confirmation that his family had moved there like he'd told her.
'What's your surname Michael?' Marko asked him and she shot her head around to look at him only to receive a dirty look.
'Emerson.' Michael replied and suddenly the air went cold.
'Michael Emerson.' David said thoughtfully and she watched him take deliberate steps as his mind ticked over, making her wish she had the ability to peer into his thoughts like he could hers. He looked over at her and she could tell by the look on his face that something had changed. She nervously looked back at him and he smirked, making her stomach somersault. He still had the ability to turn her whole world upside down with just a look and she hated it. Dwayne and Paul went ahead as they neared the entrance, followed by Marko and then David. Star held back until Michael was behind her and she reached her hand back to touch him and she glanced at him before they went down after David. Coming down the slope into the main cave, she saw Dwayne lighting the barrels and Paul as asking Laddie to get him the stereo but she was more concerned about what David was going to do. Michael being here was very dangerous.
'Not bad huh? This was the hottest resort in Santa Carla about 85 years ago, too bad they built it on the fault. In 1906, when the big one hit San Francisco, the ground opened up, this place took a header right into the crack. So now it's ours.' She heard David speaking but all she saw was Michael listening intently.
'So check it out, Mikey.' Paul laughed and she walked away from Michael around the other side of the fountain.
'Marko… food.' David said and Marko left instantly. 'That's what I love about this place. You ask, and then you get.' Paul handed David one of his famous joints, smiling. 'Thank you.' David said.
'Yeah.' Paul smirked at David as David took the joint.
'Appetizer?' David offered the smoke to Michael and placed his arm around his shoulders and her heart sank. 'You'll like it here Michael.' David told him as Michael took the smoke and she looked down. Her white knight had been taken and was now secured under the arm of the Devil. What was he playing at? Was this what David was going to do to her, just torment her forever and take everyone away from her for the rest of her existence? But why was he being nice to Michael? He had killed men for less than this and she hadn't even liked those men, she actually liked Michael, more than she was willing to admit, and here he was welcoming him into their home. She stayed over near her bed and silently watched David and Michael smoke the joint together and she observed David just as he observed Michael but Michael was quickly too stoned to really notice either of their scrutiny.
'Where are you from?' Michael asked, his words a bit unclear.
'Here.' Dwayne called out.
'I mean, where do you live?' Michael sat up visibly trying to clear his head of the impeding smoke and get a proper answer.
'Here.' Dwayne again answered and it surprised her, Dwayne never spoke to anyone new.
'Where are your people?' Star looked from Michael to David and saw even he was confused about what Michael was asking, and that didn't happen often.
'Is he talking about parents?' Paul was mocking him, they all were.
'What are they?' Dwayne asked Paul laughing. This whole thing was just one big game to them.
'We do what we want Michael. We have complete freedom. Nobody knows about this place and nobody knows about us.' As David spoke, Star slowly inched her way around the other side of the cave, ending up behind David. She hoped she could catch Michael's eye and try to get him to leave. 'Freedom Michael. No people. No rules.' David finished and she saw he had Michael's full attention. It took a second but once Michael spotted her, their eyes locked and the intensity of their connection hit her again. He almost looked like he had forgotten she was there and his courage impressed her, no one openly stared at Star in front of David, at least not if they wanted to live to tell about it. She wanted to leave, to just take his hand and pull him out of the cave entrance with her. She wanted to scream at him to run but she couldn't. One thing she did know for sure was now Michael needed saving just as much as she did.
'Feeding time! Come and get it boys.' Marko's voice bellowed through the cave and she looked over towards him as he walked the food over to the boys.
'Chinese. Good choice.' David smiled as Marko began handing out the cartons of food to the others. She remained behind David and wasn't offered any food, not that she could have eaten anything the way she was feeling anyways. This whole thing was being dragged out too long for her liking.
'Guests first.' David handed over his carton but Michael shook his head.
'Oh, no.' Michael said, holding up his hand.
'You don't like rice? Tell me Michael, how could a billion Chinese people be wrong? Come on.' She hoped he wouldn't take it, suspecting what David was about to do but he did. David was very convincing. Michael took his first mouthful before David spoke again. 'How those maggots?' David asked and she knew the game had begun.
'Huh?' Michael looked confused and she instantly felt pity for him.
'Maggots Michael. You're eating maggots, how do they taste?' She watched as Michael looked down at his food and spat it out, dropping the carton on the floor and picking out the rest of the rice from his teeth while the boys all laughed at him.
'Leave him alone.' She couldn't help herself and she spoke up for poor Michael and to her surprise, she got no response from anyone, not even David. Instead, he stopped laughing and turned his head slightly like he'd taken what she'd said on board.
'Sorry about that. No hard feelings though?' Did David just apologise?
'No.' Michael shook his head, trying to understand what was going on here.
'Why don't you try some noodles?' David offered his carton to Michael and Michael looked at the noodles.
'They're worms.' He said closing his eyes and David's game continued.
'What do you mean 'they're worms?'' David was really messing with Michael's head and it scared her. He never put this much energy into anyone like this without an ulterior motive. He grabbed some noodles with his chopsticks and ate them in front of Michael.
'Don't eat…' Michael freaked out and tried to stop him.
'They're only noodles Michael.' David teased him and she watched sadly as Michael snatched back the carton to see for himself.
'Ah-hahaha! Nice worms.' Paul said and the boys all laughed at him again.
'That's enough.' Again, she spoke out against what David was doing. If he was going to kill him, he should just do it and stop toying with him.
'Ah, chill out girl.' Paul said to her but she paid him no mind and kept her eyes on Michael and David, when she saw David whisper something to Marko and then Marko walk over and get David's bottle. The bottle of his blood. She glanced back to Michael and she knew she had to move, she had to try and stop this from happening. This was worse than David killing him. She positioned herself next to Michael and looked nervously from Michael to David disbelieving what she was seeing, David could not actually be going to do this, this was crazy and getting way out of hand. Marko handed the bottle to David and he pulled the cork and, as he drank from it, she was sure she was shaking her heart was beating so hard.
'Drink some of this Michael. Be one of us.' She couldn't believe he said it, he was going to turn him! Michael stood up and stepped towards David taking the bottle and she quickly stood behind him. The boys all began chanting his name, everything was happening way too fast for her and it was all culminating into the nightmare unfolding before her eyes. Laddie jumped up from his seat next to Dwayne and came over and stood next to Star.
'Don't. You don't have to Michael.' She said over his shoulder.
'Michael.' David said, countering her, reminding her it was his decision and that he had the power.
'It's blood.' Star knew she was going to be in trouble as soon as she said it but she wasn't going to stand by and watch this happen without doing something, no matter the consequence. Why was David doing this?
'Yeah, sure. Blood.' David's tricks had worked and Michael didn't believe her then, to her horror, Michael took a large drink of the blood. She took Laddie's hand and began backing away from all of them.
'Bravo!' David cheered, clapping his gloved hands. He had won and taken Michael from her. Michael was now one of his own. The boys all began congratulating him and the party really started. She turned away and walked to her bed, the boys dancing and celebrating Michael's successful initiation behind her, and she sat with her back to them.
'What's happening?' Laddie asked her, an innocent confusion evident in his eyes.
'They're just having a party.' She lied to him again. 'Come on, climb into bed.'
'Can I sit here with you first? I don't want to go to bed yet.' He shook his hair out of his eyes and leaned in closer to her. She kissed the top of his head then reached over, grabbing one of his comics, and handed it to him. Why was David allowing this? Why would he want Michael to be one of them? He didn't even know Michael and something about this was very, very wrong. Within an hour Laddie had fallen asleep and she sat watching solemnly as Michael drank more from the bottle, enjoying the boys' acceptance and attention and sharing more smokes with them. Although David now had him, she still wanted to somehow save him from the monsters that now surrounded him. She was still so attracted to him and she hoped Michael had the strength to get away from him, to defy David's power, but she knew nobody had that amount of strength, not her and not Michael. She was perplexed that all the boys seemingly accepted Michael with no questions asked and were acting like they'd known him for months and he was so wrapped up with the boys that she seemed to be oblivious to him now.
'Come on Michael.' She heard Marko say, and she turned to see Paul, Marko and Dwayne stand up, all except David who sat motionless in his chair watching her.
'Where are we going?' She looked at Michael as he looked around at the boys unsure of what was going on.
'We're going out.' Paul pulled him to his feet and Star began to inwardly panic. Where were they taking him? Were they going to kill him?
'But I wanna stay…' Michael looked over at her and her heart jumped but the boys continued to lead him out of the cave. She looked down once he was gone and silently prayed he was going to be OK, but knowing these boys all too well, she knew the chances of that were extremely low. She heard David move and she looked up at to see him walking towards her and she instantly felt the fear grow inside her. There was no comfort in the way he was looking at her and she knew some sort of punishment was coming her way.