Star watched warily as David continued to walk around and in front of her, his cold blue eyes penetrating her like two daggers. The silence was deafening and the longer it lasted, the more unbearable it became until finally he spoke.

'You like him? Have a crush on him? A soft spot… or a wet spot…for him?' He said his derogatory comment, embarrassing her. He stopped right in front of her and he raised his eyebrow at her. 'Star?' She didn't know what to say, lying to him would just make things worse but admitting it wouldn't make it any better. She tried avoiding his stare but he caught her and drew her attention back to him. 'You think you can stick up for him and protect him from me? You think you can disclose our secret again? Don't you remember what happened last time you did that?' She nodded. 'Well, it looks like you need a reminder.' He looked over at Laddie and she felt sick.

'No, please no.' She said standing up in between the two of them and he laughed at her, mocking her.

He stepped towards her and she backed up abruptly and he brushed past her and over to Laddie. She watched him run his long fingernail up Laddie's throat and under his chin, a line of blood appearing on the boy's soft white skin, but she was too scared to move, she could barely breathe. 'If you ever say anything about drinking blood or what we are to anybody, including your new boyfriend, again, I'll slit his throat and make you watch him bleed out. This is your last chance.' He looked down at her, pure evil and malice in his eyes and she knew he was serious. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one and she was scared, really scared of David. She knew his tolerance of her was paper thin and for her to ignore or fail this directive was going to be the end for her. Her eyes began to water and it was the worst time for her to crack. 'Oh, save me the cry baby shit Star, you know the deal and what we are. I've had enough of this. I'll do what I want with him, and with you.' David rolled his eyes, turned and walked away out the back of the cave, leaving her to her own devices and she cried. Fear had replaced any remnant of love she had for him, all she felt now was fear and powerlessness. Dwayne jumped back down into the cave and she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, but not quick enough for him not to notice and he walked over towards her. He looked at her for a second and then looked down at Laddie and, seeing the thin slice under his chin, his eyes flicked back up to her and her eyes teared up again. Dwayne turned and took off without saying anything and she lay down next to Laddie, curling into a ball. It was bad enough David and Dwayne had seen her cry, the last thing she needed was for the other two to witness it too.

The next night David left her alone at the cave and he and the boys had gone out without telling her where they were going, not that he really ever told her where he was going or when he'd return, he just told her to stay put. She sat on her bed for a while thinking about what David had said to her the previous night and how stupid she'd been. She knew better than to challenge David but now the thought of him killing Laddie or doing to Michael what she'd seen him do to the cop had her paralyzed in fear. She couldn't be at fault and let anything like that ever happen again, she just had to keep quiet and go along with whatever David wanted. She still couldn't work out why David wanted Michael to join them though, it was like there was a deeper reason but she wasn't sure even the other boys knew what it was. Something just didn't feel right. She heard someone coming down into the cave and she assumed it was David back again but when she looked up she saw Michael walking in.

'Star?' He looked as good to her as he had last night on the Boardwalk.

'Hi Michael.' She said and she watched him walk over to her.

'Where are the boys?' He asked looking around.

'They're out.' She said quietly.

'Oh… So you're here on your own?' He asked, a small smile appearing on his face and she couldn't help but nod and smile back at him. 'Well… I was wondering if you were still keen on piercing my ear for me.' He said, a flirtatious look in his eyes.

'Sure. Sit down.' She told him, motioning to the floor and he sat as she collected her stuff. 'Do you have an earring?'

'Ah, no.' He said looking a little embarrassed he'd forgotten the main item.

'It's OK. I have one spare.' She said digging around in her small jewelry box and fishing out a small gold dime attached to a hook. 'Will this do?' She spun around and held it up for his approval.

'That is perfect.' He said and she kneeled down beside him and prepared her needle.

'Are you ready?' She hesitated before pressing the needle into his skin and he nodded but she could tell he was nervous as she pushed the small steel rod through his ear lobe.

'Ouch!' He complained.

'Don't be a baby. That didn't hurt and you know it.' He went to touch it as soon as she'd pierced it but not before she'd completed the procedure and she batted his hand away so she could slide the hook into the new hole. She smelled it before she saw it but once she did, she tried not to stare at the small drop of blood she'd made. She sat back against the wall on the floor and watched him stand up and feel his new adornment.

'All right.' He smiled. 'Now those guys don't have anything on me.' He was pleased but his comment made her inwardly cringe. She had a horrible feeling she was just helping him become even more like one of them, he had no idea who he was dealing with and it scared her. She placed her instruments back into her small jewellery box and he crouched down beside her. 'You know, I wouldn't have given my mom such a hard time about moving here if I'd known I was going to meet you.' Star grimaced and looked down at the word mother.

'I haven't seen my mother in years. She died.'

'What about your dad?' Michael asked.

'I used to… fight… with him all the time. Then I just got fed up and ran away.' She wanted to tell him the truth but she was in enough trouble with David as it was. 'Now Laddie and the boys are my family.' She saw him look down and his expression told her there was something else on his mind. He paused and stood up, really considering his next question before he spoke.

'You and David…' She dreaded what he was going to say next. 'You seem very in tune with each other. That is, you seem very close…' She didn't know what to say. She'd been warned not to tell people that she was single, that she was David's but she didn't want to scare Michael away or tell him she was out of his reach. She stood up and took his hand, squeezing it tight.

'David and I aren't close, we used to be but not so much now. David and the boys have secrets, things they never tell me, things I don't want to know.' She wanted to end this conversation, David was the last person she wanted to talk about with Michael.

'Does your real family know you are OK?' She looked in his eyes and she could see he genuinely cared about her, there was nothing fake about him and he was concerned for her wellbeing. She hadn't had someone be so genuine towards her in a long time and he made her feel almost safe when she was around him.

'My dad died last year too.' She looked down sadly and Michael drew her to him and she let him. He hugged her tight as if he was trying to put all her broken pieces back together but he had no idea exactly how broken she truly was. He pulled away slightly and she looked up at him and he kissed her. His lips were soft and warm and her initial hesitation melted away and she really enjoyed the embrace. David was so cold and harsh when he made her kiss him but Michael was so human and she realised it was what she'd been longing for. They kissed the most passionate kiss she had had in what felt like years, his left hand holding the back of her head and his right hand was on the small of her back as he got more and more into the kiss. Her head was spinning and she put her head back and his mouth found its way down onto her neck and his tongue licked her skin all the way up to her ear lobe before it slid back onto her mouth again as her hands ran through his long hair. She had no idea how long they'd been kissing when suddenly she sensed they were being watched and she broke from him to see all of the boys lined up just inside the entrance of the cave watching the show they'd been putting on. She backed out of Michaels arms and stood a couple of feet away from him. How long had they been there? Her heart thumped sickeningly in her chest as she was compounded by the collective stares of the boys until she looked at David and her chest instantly froze up and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

'Not interrupting anything, I hope?' David's voice sounded like nails on a chalk board to her and sent shards of ice running through her veins. She was terrified at what David was going to do to him now, and to her later. She looked over at the other boys and their faces were a mixture of caution and interest stained with disbelief that she'd had the balls to do this. David walked towards her, staring hard into her eyes and walked in between the two of them pushing Michael further away from her and she felt like she had to say something.

'I just pierced his ear for him.' She said nervously, motioning to Michael's ear.

'And piercing ears involves your tongue in his mouth now, does it?' David spat. 'Funny, I don't remember you doing mine that way.' She instantly regretted saying anything now. 'Dwayne, she do it that way with you?' Dwayne now stood a little too close to Michael and he shook his head, staring at him with his stance wide and his hands behind his back.

'What about yours Paul?'

'Nah bro, not mine.' Paul backed his brother and they were all making her feel worse.

'No. You must be special Michael. Is Michael special Star?' She looked from David to Michael hoping that Michael couldn't see through her weak exterior and then she looked back at David and shook her head. David held her gaze and it didn't take much for her to see how angry he was with her. 'I'll deal with you later.' His smooth deep voice echoed in her head and her heart stopped. 'Well… sorry to break up this little party but we've got to go Michael. We're going someplace.' She looked over at Michael, the colour draining from her face and he looked back at her. 'Oh don't worry,' David chided, 'she'll be here if you come back.' He looked over at her and laughed as he led the boys back out of the cave and Michael gave her a weak smile as he followed them out. If? Did David just say if? Oh God, was there a chance she would never see Michael again? What was she thinking, of course there was, this was David she was dealing with. Within a short amount of time she heard their bikes rev up and get quieter as they rode off into the distance and suddenly she became aware Laddie was next to her.

'You like him don't you?' A little voice asked her.

'Yeah, I do.' She admitted, still staring out the cave entrance.

'Don't like him too much. David won't like that.' She looked down and Laddie was looking up at her, a worried look on his face and it gave her knot in her stomach.

'I know.' She didn't know what else to say. She didn't want to tell him her hopes in case it would get his hopes up or, even worse, he might tell Dwayne.

'Star, I like it here and I love you and Dwayne but will I ever get to go home?' It was like he had read her mind and his question disturbed her a little but it didn't really surprise her, especially the way David had been the last few weeks. She knelt down beside him and pulled him to her and hugged him.

'I don't know.' She wasn't sure she really knew anything anymore. 'But please don't ask any of the boys, it will just make them angry. I promise I will get us out of here somehow.' The boys had been gone a while and the draw of sleep was effecting both Star and Laddie, so she put him to bed and she lay on her bed wrapped in her shawl. Her thoughts were tainted with fear over what they were doing to poor Michael and what David would do to her once they returned and she couldn't sleep. She didn't know how long she'd laid there but when the boys stepped, almost quietly, into the cave, her eyes darted up and directly into the cold blue she knew all too well. He watched her but he kept walking and he disappeared out the back without saying anything to her, the other two following. She didn't understand, why didn't he yell at her or threaten her? His silence was worse than a reaction, at least then it was over. Her anxiety would be through the roof by the next night. Marko walked in a little later and she looked up at him and he halted his step to look at her and smile at her, a smile that left her cold and wondering if Michael was still alive. Then he left to go to sleep and she buried her face in her thin pillow.