Author's Note: Hey there Lost Boys fans, I can't apologise enough for my absence! I had hoped to have this story finished before I started back at school but I just wasn't happy with the chapters I had written, so I decided to take some extra time to fix them up and then between my mock exams and getting essays and tests done in class I haven't had a lot of spare time to upload these chapters, fortunately I'm on my mid-term break now which means I can finally get the story wrapped up for you guys. This is the second-last chapter of the story, the next chapter will wrap things up and I've decided to leave it at that, I did try and figure some more twists and turns to add to keep it going longer but I think ending it here would probably be the best move. This story has went above and beyond what I thought it would, I am so happy so many people liked it and have given me such nice reviews, been so patient waiting on chapters and you are all awesome and I appreciate everyone who reads the story and has enjoyed it so far, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the last one I hope to upload on Monday- there's still some last minute fixes to be made to it.

Thanks so much to those who have added the story to their favourites and follows recently, and thanks so much to those who have reviewed- Leeleeishere, TishaLiz, JaliceJelsa4eva, lostboysfan8797, chloevamp and Eveline Wulf! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Lost Boys, just my OCs.

The bell on the door of the shop seemed to ring too loud as I walked in, I winced as everyone's attention was pulled to me momentarily before they returned to browsing the music on the shelves.

I looked around the shop and saw it hadn't changed much over the time I had been absent, everything was exactly as I remembered. The designs Paul and I had painted on the wall were still there, along with the name, The Music Shop, which still sat proudly on the back wall.

I swayed back and forth on my heels, feeling slightly awkward as I searched for any signs of Julie and Peter, it seemed to be only teenagers hanging around the shelves looking at stuff to buy. Finally I decided to wait at the counter for a few minutes before I'd leave, I told the others I'd be gone a short while, tonight was the night I was supposed to turn fully, I made an excuse that I needed some time alone so I could do this first.

The door to the small storage room behind the counter opened and Julie looked like a rabbit caught in headlights when she saw me, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she finally spoke, "Bryn?"

I offered a small smile as I leant off the counter, "Hi, I just thought I'd drop in."

"O-okay." She managed, setting the notebook she held on the counter before glancing behind her into the storage room, "I just made some coffee if you want some."

I nodded, "That'd be great, thanks."

I followed her into the small storage room that held mostly paperwork on the few shelves, there was a small table with two chairs we had set up when we opened, just so we could chill out when the store was quiet. I sat in one of the chairs as Julie busied herself making the coffee.

The silence was slightly awkward when she set the cup down in front of me, moving to sit in the opposite seat. We stared at each other for a few seconds before she smiled, it looked a little forced but I guessed she hadn't been expecting to see me, "So, what have you been up to?"

If I told her the truth she'd probably drop dead, I had spent my last few weeks travelling around the country to get away from a vampire only to come back myself and almost get killed in the process, the only thing that had saved me was vampire blood. Perhaps I wouldn't mention that stuff.

"This and that." I shrugged, "I've been around I just haven't gotten the chance to visit yet. I needed some time to think over everything, you know?"

She nodded sympathetically, "It must have been a big shock, I understand you needed some time to think things over."

"Yeah, it was definitely a lot to take in." I said, taking a gulp of the coffee, my nose wrinkling a little at the taste. It wasn't doing much to help my throat, which itched even more with each passing night, "But I want you guys to know that I'm not mad anymore, I know why you did what you did."

"Really?" She seemed surprised at my coolness. I guess a near-death experience gives you a fresh outlook on things.

"It couldn't have been easy knowing when I was growing up you'd have to tell me one day you're not my real parents. I know you must have wanted to delay it as much as possible. I do wish it had been you that had told me, but all that matters now is that I know."

"We had been talking for ages about how to tell you, there never seemed to be a right time. Still, I'm very sorry."

"It's fine." I told her, waving a hand in dismissal, "I am too, for leaving so suddenly. I don't want what happened to keep us from talking, I wanna keep seeing you guys."

She smiled, this one was more genuine, "We'd like that very much. Peter will be sad he wasn't here, he needed to sort some things out at home. Speaking of which, where have you been staying?"

"With some friends, very close to the sea. It's a nice place, kinda far out of town." I explained quickly.

She gave a look of approval, "Well that's nice, we were worried where you were because Nick had said he hadn't seen you. We thought you might have been sleeping rough somewhere awful."

I shook my head, "No, I love where I am."

"Well, your room is there if you ever need to use it." She offered, "And any night you wanna drop by is fine, the house is so quiet without you."

I chuckled, "I bet. Thank you, I'll remember that."

We shared more smalltalk as we finished our coffees, Julie glanced at the clock sometime later and grimaced, "I should probably get back out there."

I nodded, standing up, "I should get going too, but I'll see you and... Dad sometime soon." I decided for her sake I wouldn't use his real name.

She smiled, "That'd be great." She said, opening the door and gesturing for me to exit first. I walked around the counter while she remained behind it, waving when I turned back just as I got back to the door. I returned it before walking out, closing the door behind me and feeling a lot better. My shoulders felt considerably lighter now.

"Hey." I turned in the direction of the voice to find Paul coming up behind me, in just a few strides he was at my side with his hands in his pockets.

"Following me?" I asked with mock seriousness.

He snorted, "You wish." He said, grinning at me until I stopped and narrowed my eyes a little.

"What's that face for?"

He chuckled, "Come on, I have a surprise for you." He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to speed up, I had to jog a little to keep up as we wound through the crowds and eventually made it over to the bikes we had all arrived on.

"Uh I hate to break it to you, but I've seen these bikes before." I told him as he stopped beside his, he chuckled and patted the seat.

"Get on." I did as he said and waited patiently for him to tell me what to do next, "Okay you're gonna take my bike and head back to the caves, your surprise is there."

"You're not coming with me?" I asked, it was weird, Paul would never miss surprises.

He shook his head with a knowing grin, "Nah I'll catch up later. Be careful with my bike, I know you're not so easily killed anymore so just try and keep my baby in one piece, okay?"

"I'll try." I teased as I kick-stared the bike and revved the engine, winking at Paul before taking off towards the steps and down onto the beach. With a bit of extra time on our hands these past few days Paul had taken it upon himself to perfect my driving skills as much as he could, I was confident enough to find my way back to the caves after having been on Paul's bike with him enough times while he made the journey.

Wind and leaves whipped through my hair as I went over the jumps in the woods, I held a little tighter onto the handlebars as I went through the rough terrain. Being a half-vampire did mean any injuries I could have would go away in a few hours or days, but I'd rather be careful just in case.

It wasn't until I was crossing the uneven wooden planks that balanced over the water at the side of the cliffs, the opening to the caves in plain sight, that I hesitated to wonder what could be waiting inside. The others had been pretty keen on getting me to feed pretty soon, maybe they had left someone at the caves. I shook my head, Rachel would have given me some warning, so it wasn't that.

I stepped down the steep slope that led into the caves as carefully as I could, trying not to make much noise. After looking around I noticed nothing really looked out of place, and there seemed to be no one else here, "Hello?" I called, just to be sure.

When I got no answer I sighed, maybe Paul had gotten the place wrong, or maybe it was to get me away from the boardwalk for some reason. Nevertheless I decided to chill out for a while before I got back, I crossed over to the boxes of tapes and started going through them, looking for something to listen to.

Something shifted behind me, quietly enough for me to almost not notice as the tapes clattered about in the box, I dropped the ones in my hand and spun round, back tensing in anticipation at what had moved.

Someone else was in the caves.

They stood about ten feet away completely still, almost as if they had expected me to be scared and wanted to show they meant no harm. Of course I knew they couldn't, I recognised them almost immediately. The breath I'd been holding left my body in a rush, my stomach tightened into knots in the silence.

"You're back." I whispered.

It had been days since I'd seen him, David and Marko had resumed a normal schedule and told me he would be back soon enough, he was just resting up a bit more to make sure. They said none of them had ever been so close to being killed, they decided to play it extra safe, even when the wound in his chest healed up after just over two days they ordered him to wait longer to be sure.

If I was honest, in some place deep down I didn't want to acknowledge, I thought he was dead and they just didn't know how to tell me.

He stood as tall and solid as ever across from me, looking exactly the same as before this whole mess. Perfect.

My foot raised by itself to step closer but I refused to do so, he still hadn't moved or said anything, who knows what he was thinking. Paul seemed happy to get me back here, but maybe he just had a little too much faith in how forgiving Dwayne was feeling. I did almost get him killed, he would have every right to hate me.

He noticed my movement and this time he took a step forward, I had to resist the urge to step backwards, the notion of him hating me making me a little afraid to be any closer. I stayed rooted to the spot until he came to stand about a foot away.

His eyes didn't give away much, they scanned over my whole face and body, returning to hold my gaze a few seconds later. I realised he hadn't seen me since I turned into a half-vampire, maybe I was different somehow, maybe something about me had changed and he could notice it.

With about as much slowness as you would have approaching a scared animal he brought one hand up to my face, the tips of his fingers brushed my chin lightly, his thumb settled on the skin there and I noticed my lip was trembling. I had been so busy watching him I barely had noticed I was shaking all over, whether from fear or some other emotion I couldn't tell, I was too busy savouring the small amount of contact that was managing to make me break every effort to not move.

I closed the distance and threw my arms around him, they only closed around his upper arms and were too far apart on his back to meet, my fingers dug into the leather of his jacket and I sobbed into the material. He didn't move as slow this time, his arms went around my waist and lifted me enough for my feet to leave the ground, my arms went around his neck now and overlapped, I buried my face in the smooth skin of his shoulder and took shaking breaths.

"Bryn." He breathed against my hair, his voice husky and low, it sounded amazingly familiar and comforting.

I couldn't tell how long we stayed like that, it could have been all night for all I cared. I was too caught up in the relief of seeing him again, here, safe, to wonder about something as unimportant as time. My hands had wandered the expanse of his upper back during that time, I stopped as my fingers settled on broken leather, a sizeable tear in the back of the jacket he wore, which could only have been from the stake that had punched through his chest.

He seemed to understand what had stopped me, and when I pulled back just slightly he set me back down, his arms still held me but I was far enough away to search his chest for any signs of a scar. I examined the area that would have been hit judging by the hole on the back, I found nothing but smooth, dark skin, no red mark to show what had almost killed him.

I tentatively reached out to touch the skin before drawing my finger back, "Does it hurt?"

He shook his head, "Not anymore. The splinters were the worst part but they're all gone. I'm good as new."

I tried to smile but couldn't manage it, I was too busy trying to imagine the pain he must have felt, it would have probably rivaled any of mine. And mine hardly lasted a few minutes before I was unconscious, those days he spent healing must have been agony.

"What about you?"

I looked up in surprise, dragging my eyes away from his chest to his face, "I'm fine."

He winced, "Paul told me how he found you, you were bitten twice and had fallen out a window. You probably broke every bone in your body."

"I passed out after a few seconds of falling, the pain didn't last long. I hardly felt anything." I said casually, shrugging. His expression shifted to a doubtful one.

"You almost died, if Paul hadn't have gotten there when he did-" he stopped himself for a second, his jaw clenching tight, "I'm sorry I didn't save you sooner."

"You did." I said, confused as to why he would think otherwise, "If you hadn't have gotten there when you did, I'd be gone. A long way from here by now."

He shook his head, "I should have told the others, I went by myself and that almost killed you."

"No way are you taking the blame for this." I said with determination, "I'm the one that almost got you killed, I left you a clue that only you would understand, I basically asked for you to come by yourself."

"Paul said you'd been beating yourself up about it." Dwayne said, a frown playing on his lips, "I should have done more to keep you away."

"I'd have come back no matter what you did." I argued, "Even if it meant you'd hate me forever."

"I'd never hate you."

I smiled a little at that, feeling very relieved at the assurance, "I'm glad."

The corners of his lips stretched a little, although not enough for it to be an actual smile, "Your mother said you left after you figured out I had been lying about wanting you to leave. That was why you came back, wasn't it? Because I hadn't done enough?"

I stepped closer before continuing, the few inches of space between us once again gone, "I came back because I decided I didn't care what being here would mean. I would have let Max turn me and have me do whatever he wanted, lived the rest of my days under his thumb, as long as it meant I'd be with you. I decided for myself, just like you told me to before. This was my choice, Dwayne. I don't regret it for one moment."

His eyes searched mine for a few minutes, I waited patiently, hoping he'd find whatever answer he was looking for. It seemed a few seconds later he must have, because I was pulled against his chest so tight I couldn't even catch a breath before his lips crashed against mine,

If I thought the contact before was good, I had obviously forgotten how good it felt to have his lips on mine. The itch in my throat was probably the furthest thing from my mind, I was far more focused on making up for the time I had spent away from him, savouring every sensation that I had missed so much.

When I eventually built up the willpower to pull away I leant my head on his chest, my breathing was ragged and my heartbeat beating at a hundred miles a minute. I traced the line of his jaw absentmindedly until his hand caught mine, my eyes travelled up to his face, finally seeing a smile, I matched it with my own without even thinking. I leant up to close the distance again.

"Not interrupting anything, I hope?"

I jumped in surprise at the other voice in the caves, turning to see Marko, David and Paul standing at the entrance with varying degrees of mischief on their faces, Paul and Marko's being the most obvious whilst David had his signature teasing smirk.

All I could think now was thank God my mother wasn't with them.

"Looks like we got here just in time, another few minutes and who knows what these two might be up to." Marko teased, I felt a blush spread on my cheeks in a matter of seconds and I ducked my head, which made David chuckle.

"Sorry to break up the reunion lovebirds." Paul laughed as he walked towards us, "Bryn's got something important to do first."

"Oh." I said when I remembered the purpose of tonight, I had agreed to turn fully.

"Your mother's at the boardwalk waiting for us." David said, smiling at me, "Time to join the ranks."

I took a deep breath, "Okay. Let's go."

Paul hooted as he descended the rest of the slope, grabbing me by the waist and throwing me over his shoulder, jogging back up the rocky slope with ease while I protested, laughing too much for him to take me seriously.

He set me down when we got to the entrance, the others breezing past and he and Marko ran forward to race up the steps, I hung back to wait for Dwayne, smiling as his fingers linked through mine and we walked across the wooden planks and up the steps with the others.

I climbed on the back of his bike and wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning my chin on his shoulder as he kick-started the bike.

'You sure you're ready?" He said over his shoulder, meeting my eyes with slight concern, I pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth and smiled.

"I'm sure." He flashed an amazing grin before revving the bike and taking off with the others, we sped around the roads back to the boardwalk and I found myself feeling nervous at what lay ahead but mostly excited.

I was ready for a fresh start.