Past is Past

I had left early, right at sun set to make it to the cave before they left, if they left. They didn't go to the Boardwalk every night and made it where sometimes I had to come find them. I couldn't wrap my mind around why I felt some sort of need, even loyalty towards them and trust. I trusted The Boys and felt a pull to them. David and Marko was the strongest, It was like a part of me wanted to seek them, wanted their guidance and wanted to be fully apart of what they are. I resisted this urge to join them fully, I didn't want this and wanted to be me as much as I could.

They are up and about, currently lounging, they didn't adopt any human guise when there was no human eyes to see. Paul was sitting on the fountains edge air banging to a Led Zeppelin song, which looked really weird seeing a vampire doing this. Dwayne and Marko were sitting on the couch, Dwayne looking threw a porno magazine and Marko was scraping a bone with a pin knife. I doubt the origin of the bone was a cow.

" Woo hoo, look who's here! come sit, stay!" Paul laughs.

" You look like a man with a million questions on his mind, so, what is it that you're just dieing to know about?" David asks, seemingly disinterested, he was looking down at a knife that he was cleaning, not paying much attention to me.

" About you... And my grandpa and was I turned as revenge?"

" Oh." David raised his head giving me a bored glance. " No, I didn't know you was one of his at first, but it is a bit ironic, don't you think?" He then lets loose a cold laugh. " Ah, don't worry about it Micheal, I turned you for other reasons, mostly just to replace a member that was taken from us. Kinda isn't a whole pack with it just being the four of us."

" What you mean?" I asked both curious and annoyed.

" Stay here the day Micheal and you will get your answers." David holds out his clawed hand. " You have my word I'll tell you all, if I have yours that you'll stay?" David was looking at me, but not in the eyes, something that I've realized is like being challenged. " All you have to do, just stay the day with us." Davids fanged smile wasn't endearing, nor frightening to me.

I took his hand in a shake, I didn't have much choice if I wanted answers and it was just the one day, not like it would kill me.

David then stands up, lighting a cigaret and walks around. " So, the issue about me and your grandpa. Well simple enough, in his youth your grandpa was a hunter, not a bad one either. "

" We ignored him, he mostly stuck to the rebels, the unwanted offspring of Maxs' failures. Oh yea, your mom wasn't the first and she wouldn't have been the last in his long line of delusions of living the American dream." David along with the others laughed. I was already told they had no love for Max, so there wasn't going to be any reprisals over his loss.

" Max was attracted to kind hearted women, which this transformation only destroys such types, makes them insane. They typically turn suicidal or mindlessly homicidal. Those are the kinds your grandfather normally killed, it worked for us both. Normally we'd run them off or kill the more unstable ones ourselves if needed, but Max wouldn't have any of this, so our culling Santa Carla to ensure our dominance was limited to doing it behind Max's back and letting hunters have at them." He continues.

" Everything was good for a few years, your grandpa knew how things worked and helped culled the rebels, staying away from us. Then Howard Sr., a friend of his had stumbled onto one of our fledglings, he had just fully turned not long before and was out feeding on his own when caught in the midst of it. Fledglings don't have very good control, instinct took over and he attacked instead of just fleeing to the air." David hides it well, but I was able to sense from him the anger or hatred at loosing what he thought as one of his.

" Your grandpa killed him." Davids' voice sounded bitter when he stated that and I swore I herd a few growls amongst the others. " I tormented him, picking off one his friends, the turmoils of a hunter is we don't strike them, we strike what hurts them the most. He took one of our friends, brothers, we took one of his. We revealed ourselves to him one night, while Dwayne and Paul had him pinned, I told him not to ever touch one of mine again, he was free to pick off the unwanted filth all he wants, but stay away from our own..." David chuckled. " I didn't say what I'd do to him, I let the implications hang in the air, but he got the idea."

" Sounded like he was only defending a friend." I remarked, though I felt an anger at the loss, I could some how pick up their anger and rage at such and even understand why. I may not be full vampire, but I could feel through them, a sort of bond now. Still I didn't like knowing that my grandpa had to suffer.

" Which doesn't change the fact one of us was killed, Harold Sr.s' son must not have been told that it was finished and retribution had already been taken. Your grandpa understands this, understands well, but you'll have to ask him on that little detail if he'll tell you about his personal understandings. He only meant to go after the unchecked ones that were tearing up the town, giving it the title of Murder Capital of the World. He stopped hunting when he found a mate. There hasn't been an issue since with the old man, nor Harold Sr." David seems to decide this was the end of it, what he felt needed to be told.

It left me with a few more question, but at least David had made it clear that the matter had been settled and that I wasn't part of some revenge plot. " I'm replacing this guy my grandpa killed though?"

" No. He was taking the place of one of our own who died a long time ago. Someone that was a brother to us before our change, you like the one your grandpa had killed, are replacing him." David states with a more than certain tone and doesn't seem to be willing to go into any more detail.

" What about your warning, how would he know what is yours?" I asked wondering how he expected my grandpa to know one vampire from another.

David then walks over to me and thumps my earring. " What marks you as my pack, marks you as one of mine, that's how he would know who we have decided worthy of us."

Why me though? I ask myself, What is it about me?

" What are you willing to do for the answer to that question Micheal?" David now had this dark amusement on his face as he eyed me, haven read my thoughts, which they all seem to love doing. Privacy is an allusion amongst The Boys.

The intensity of his stare had me a little unnerved. I shook my head, only getting a chuckle out of him, leaving the rest of the night in a sort of strange hanging out. The boys seemed almost normal, except there was something in the way they are, not much conversation happened. This didn't bother me and they talked to me when I asked anything, Paul mainly had an interest in me, but he seemed the type that loves attention and likes company.

At points I wanted to go home, but I felt compelled to stay with them and I'd catch both Marko and David give me a glance when I thought of leaving, I had no idea what the meaning behind the looks were, but they probably had no interest in letting me leave them. I really couldn't, Sam and mom would be asleep and I made a deal to sleep here threw the day.

**** Sleeping Arrangements ****

The flying above into the larger crack at the top of the tunnel that leads to their sleeping den was easier than crawling threw thew the smaller tight crack at the bottom. It made me wonder if they ever worry about this place collapsing and letting the sun in if an earth quake hits?

" Wait what?! No, no, I'm not doing that, I'll sleep on the bed, eppp!" My leg is grabbed and I'm jerked downward. They neglected to mention that part of the sleeping arrangement required me to hang from my feet several feet above ground.

" Change Micheal." David commanded as he held me dangling by my ankle. " You won't be able to hold on trying to play human, now change and no, a deal's a deal, you're to sleep with us, that means as us." David says in a commanding tone as he removes my shoes and tosses them to a spot on the floor.

I was tense, but found my ability to change wasn't to hard, the question was, will I remain like this threw sleep? Could I even sleep like this? I'm still partly human and this isn't normal sleep, I'm not a bat.

I never really paid attention to how I looked when I changed like this ( I didn't want to), but now I'm faced with it, a glance towards my feet showed long toes with claws on the ends. I decided to stare at the ground below me instead, not that I could see it very well, my improved vision still hasn't gained me total sight in darkness, it was just better than looking up and seeing how I'm to hang like they do. Maybe I am a bat after all.

" There that wasn't so bad now was it?" David breathes in my ear, far to close for my comfort when I finally lath onto the posts The boys are latched to by their feet.

Yes it was, I'm hanging upside down several feet in the air by my toes! Claws, toe claws, things, whatever! I mentally scream. Thoughts of falling and snapping my neck swam threw my mind, I tried to brush them away and relax enough to fall asleep since David wasn't going to let me sleep in the bed.

**** Rude Awakening ****

I woke with a head ache and my stomach felt like it was going to fall out my mouth, it was like I had gotten hung over. I try to turn over, forgetting that the previous morning I had been pressured into hanging, literally with The Boys.

" Shit!" My hands strike out, latching on the nearest thing to stop my fall as I had let go of the post, unfortunately David is the one nearest to me.

" Hiya." David grins evilly at me as I came almost face to face.

Then the worse thing happens, David grabs each side of my face and gives me a forceful kiss on the lips, causing me to let go of him, gagging.

I hit the ground hard, choking and spitting. " You ass hole!" I spit and keep wiping out my mouth, my mind set on the first thing I'd do tonight is head to grandpas' and wash my mouth out with bleach to get death and cigaret taste out of my mouth. The boys above me, laughing like hyenas didn't help things, it was all a game to them. At my expense. Had we been on solid ground and not hanging in the air, I'd have slugged him for kissing me like that. One of them laughs saying kiss of death, likely Paul. David has that amused smirk on his face as he watches me from above on his perch in the darkness, I'm able to make them out, my sight in the dark seems to improve steadily with each passing night.