Roxanne looked at the Frog brothers through her rear-view mirror as she adjusted it. They were still crying. They'd been silently weeping since they'd left that weird cave. She blew her bangs away from her face and looked back towards the road ahead of her. Now she wasn't gonna say anything about it. Clearly Clamato made them emotional for some unknown reason. What really bugged her was that funny cold feeling she was getting back there when she crossed in front of that musty bed. Like there was some kinda AC jerry-rigged under the mattress running at max power. She usually only got those vibes when trippy stuff went down. Maybe there was something to it?
"So...Uh..." Roxanne dug a piece of gum out of her cup-holder and popped it into her mouth while she tried to think of something to say. "Your brother back there...and his friends...they were nice." It wasn't entirely untrue. They'd all been fairly pleasant, except for those mondo strange looks they had. But she guessed that was just how alien lizard circus bikers acted. Wait...if the one with the curly hair was Sam's bro...did that mean they could induct people? Whoa! Real life bodysnatchers in Santa Carla!
"Yeah...nice," Sam snorted, rolling his eyes and looking out the window. He didn't look too happy. So Roxanne rapidly began to chew her bubblegum and drum her fingers on her steering wheel to try and think of something to cheer him up.
"Hey! Killer! I never toldja bout those cards, did I? Okay, so...your past, that was the tower-"
"Roxie, I'm really not in the mood right now. Maybe later." Sam turned to his girlfriend with a slight frown, shaking his head.
"...Okay. That's cool. I mean, towers are all about major life changes and junk, then there was that death card...but if you don't wanna hear it, you don't have to. Not saying a thing. Lips. Sealed. Won't even mention the eight of cups, the abandonment and escapism...and y'know, I'm not even gonna bring up that vision I had about you last night. Your Roxie is gonna stay quiet, right here, and drive. Not gonna say a thing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Silent...as the grave."
"Roxie."
"And y'know what, who cares if I had a bad dream about you, am I right?" She was picking up speed as she drove, smacking her gum faster. "I mean...it's not like it's the end of the world. Not like...not like I saw your throat being ripped out and blood all over the walls, and flying monkeys, and-"
"Roxie!"
"...I'm done. I didn't say a thing." Roxanne shrugged and tossed her head back, flipping her bangs and reaching up to re-adjust her sunglasses.
"Alan, you know that box I keep under the bed back home? The secret one? Burn it. I need you to promise me you're gonna do that," Edgar growled at his brother, wiping at his eyes.
"We're gonna make it through this! Don't say shit like that! It's just me and you against the world, Ed. The bad monster bashers!" Alan gripped Edgar's shoulders and gave him a firm shake. Roxanne rolled her eyes. Sam had some mondo weird friends. At first they were kinda funny, but the minute they started crying...she seriously began to wonder about their mental health. And if they were staying with Sam like he'd said, she completely understood why he was acting so on edge.
Leaning closer to Sam, Roxanne lowered her eyebrows, "are they on Xanax or somethin? They're really killing my sugar high right now."
Sam looked back at the Frog brothers and sighed, "they're on something."
When Roxanne finally pulled into the driveway, Sam wasn't surprised to see his mother standing at the front porch in her robe with her arms crossed. Christ, how late was it? Man...she did not look happy. At all.
"Listen, Roxie...I'm really sorry how I've been acting tonight. A lot of stuff is happening right now, and I just really don't wanna drag you into it, you know?" Sam turned to Roxanne as she parked the car, and wasn't surprised to catch a tiny frown on her face. She acted cheerful, but he knew he'd hurt her feelings when he told her he snapped at her about the cards.
"Yeah...that's cool, that's cool," Roxanne bobbed her head up and down, reaching towards the glove compartment in front of Sam and popping it open with her key. Inside was a stack of papers, and a bundle of dried weeds...or herbs...something. Wouldn't you know, that was what she grabbed and shoved into his hands.
"Look, this is Sage, killer," Roxie ran a hand through her hair and scratched at her scalp. "Listen to me, or don't. Or just...whatever. Just...if things feel funny, y'know...burn this around the house. Wave it in the corners and stuff. It'll make you feel better. And gimme a call when you actually wanna have some fun, okay?"
Sam looked at the bundle of sage in his hands and held it up to his nose to sniff. Yep. It smelt like sage...he really didn't know what he should've expected.
"You know I don't believe in this stuff, Roxie," he sighed.
"Like I said. If things feel funny...just give it a shot. Trust me. Now get outta my car, killer, I gotta get it back home before the engine gets shot. Was supposed ta work on it today, but kinda got distracted when I started thinkin' bout seein' yer cute butt again." Roxie gave him a playful shove, and he pushed open the car door, pausing just once to look back at her.
"Seeya," he smiled weakly. She was weird, there was no doubt about that. Sometimes a little nuts. Not the best driver. Talked a lot...a lot. But...she was pretty fun. And somehow, he doubted any other girl would have handled their run-in with Mike and his friends as 'well' as she did tonight. Or, frankly, put up with the Frog brothers in the backseat.
By the time Sam and the Frogs were heading into the house, Lucy didn't say anything. She didn't seem to know what she should say. The look of disappointment on her face was enough to make him feel...awful. He didn't need to look over towards Grandpa's workshop door to notice him glaring out at them with an equally disappointed frown. Jeeze, even the old man.
"Sam, let's go to the kitchen. I'll make us some tea, and we can talk." His mom put a hand on his shoulder and gently guided him through the house. The Frogs followed, and thank god they'd finally stopped crying.
David paced the lobby with Thorn at his side. He'd kept the dog by Star's pit when they brought their guests over, just in case he decided to get a little payback for Max. Not that David was even sure the hellhound even knew the Frogs and Sam had a hand in the former head vampire's death, but better safe than sorry. Not that he really cared if they got turned into free range dog chow, but Michael was still pretty stubbornly attached to his former brother. That's how David thought of the little blonde brat. Just a former brother. There wasn't any blood left between him and Michael to claim anything else anymore. Of course, he could just go ahead and do whatever the fuck he wanted, but he'd let Michael have this. Plus, there was something to be said for just...screwing with them. He knew the rest of the boys were enjoying it.
"Smell anything, Thorn?" David knelt down to the hellhound and pulled it's face up to meet his eyes. He wasn't growling. Wasn't scratching at anything. Didn't seem like he was in the mood to pace...he was just acting...normal.
"Dwayne, you said Thorn freaks out whenever this shit with the ghost starts to go down, right?" David glanced over at the darker-haired vampire reclining on the couch, who nodded back as he reached under the couch to snatch up a well-worn paperback novel. Marko leaned over the back of the couch, pondering whether or not he'd fuck with him and try to snatch the book away.
"Well then. One more problem gone." David released Thorn's head and dusted his gloves off. There was white fur all over them. Ugh.
Michael crossed his arms and leant against the cave wall. "So what...she just picked one of them, headed out, and that's it?" He could already see a lot of holes in this 'plan' of David's. Not to mention, he still didn't want to let Star go. Not even one part of her. Yeah, he knew he was being stupid...but he still felt like he owed her. Because he didn't have the heart to kill the monster below. Not yet. He just...couldn't let her go.
"She'll be back. Can't get enough of us...the dirty little bitch," Paul sidled up beside Michael against the cave wall and tried to ruffle his hair. Michael smacked his hand away, growling.
"Don't call her that," Michael warned.
"She's unbalanced. Nuts. Did you see how she acted when she got a hold of Paul?" David smirked, chuckling as he tucked his cigarette into his mouth and pulled out a box of matches from his coat pocket, pausing to light it with a dramatic flare. "She's going to do everything within her power to come back here during the day, I bet ya ten to one. With Thorn, and the fact that there's no way she'll be able to get our current sleeping spot without a pretty intense workout...there's no way she'll be able to hurt us. And if she acts crazy out there, who's to say someone else won't try to get rid of her?"
Without pausing to look up, Dwayne turned the page in his book and smirked. "And if it doesn't work? If she comes back?"
David blew out a breath of smoke, "shit, I'm not a psychic. We'll worry about that if it happens..." he then turned to smirk at Michael, winking. "And seeing as how nice I've been tonight, I think we should have a little bit of fun. What do you think, Mikey?"
Michael rolled his eyes. "Why don't you try your luck with Star, instead?"
Paul frowned, looking over at David, "that's not gonna screw up the bet, is it? I'm still getting another shot at it, right?"
"Are you kidding me?" Marko blurted, staring at Paul incredulously. "You're gonna go back for seconds?! Paulie, if you want your dick ripped off, we can do it for you. There's no need to go through so much trouble."
Before they could discuss the merits of letting Paul go through with his apparent plans to have his body mutilated a second time, David was dragging Michael by the collar out of the room.
"I can walk on my own, asshole!" He protested, shoving David off.
Dwayne lowered his book and waved at them, "let us know if you have problems rising to the occasion again." He chuckled.
"Shut up!" David's voice echoed in their minds as he and Michael disappeared through a crack in the wall.
Don't panic! This may be the last chapter of the story, but that doesn't mean the series is over. I plan on starting part 3 pretty soon. This just felt like the best place to close the book on this part. And I was running out of gerunds for chapter titles. XD. Hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as I did writing it. If you have any ideas you think you'd like to persuade me to throw into the next part, just let me know.