"She's a firestarter, twisted firestarter"
"She's a Rebel" by Green Day
BY THE TIME Sevyn woke up and blinked back home to change clothes, Marko and David were in the main cave, waiting for everyone else to wake up. When she returned, she was wearing a pair of leggings and a black shirt that said "I look better bent over a book" on the back, with a small peach wearing glasses and reading a book in front printed over the breast. The outfit was finished off with a pair of unlaced combat boots. Since her hair was long enough now, she settled for throwing her hair up into a lazy bun instead of straightening it, then applied her usual cat eye before she deemed her look good enough.
The two vampires turned to see which of the others had joined them, only to see Sevyn popping back into the room. Surprisingly, she didn't have a hangover, something she always boasted of. Whether it was just because of her age or something else, she didn't know, and she wasn't going to question it.
Both boys watched the girl intently as she sauntered over to the couch, not saying a word. This caught Sevyn's attention, her eyebrows furrowing together.
"What are you two up to? I don't like the looks on your faces," she asked cautiously.
"We were just wondering why you don't just move in," Marko explained, though he was only half truthful. They had also been talking about how they would convince her to drink from the bottle. She was so emotional, their first idea was to play on them, making her see that a change needed to be made for all of them to be together.
"I'm not moving here, there's no electricity. Can you imagine me living without electricity? You've seen how crazy I'm going without the internet," she exclaimed. Truthfully, she was taken aback by the notion. They wanted her to move in with them? What does that mean for them? She thought for sure that they would insist on space. She had never lived with anyone before, at least not people who weren't her parents.
"You rather live in a cottage by yourself?" David asked, raising a blonde eyebrow.
"I've basically lived alone all my life; I'm used to it. I wouldn't even know the first thing about living with a bunch of boys. No, I'm not moving in David," she said firmly, though inside, she was less certain.
Marko opened his mouth to say something before David cut him off with a look. What was he about to say? She narrowed her eyes at the two.
They continued to stare at each other, clearly having some sort of silent conversation. She glared even harder – now she really wanted to know what he was going to say.
Their attention shifted back to her, expressions mocking. David wore his usual smirk paired with Marko's signature Cheshire grin.
"Okay, kitten," David crooned, but she could tell he wasn't taking no for an answer. To him, it made sense. She was with them from here on out; they needed her now that the events from the movie were taking place. He liked to keep his assets close. He wanted her attention solely on them for many reasons, some he didn't want to put words to.
For Marko, it was a combination of that and having unlimited access to the pink-haired thief. After the past couple of nights, he knew exactly how hard Sevyn liked to party, and he wanted more of it. He wanted her in their space.
"Oh hell." She already knew how this was going to end, but she'd be damned if she didn't put up a fight.
It was then that the other two emerged from the back, chatting back and forth. While the boys were talking, Sevyn's attention was snagged on something shiny on the table in front of her. She squinted slightly until she realized it was a charm anklet, and it was cute!
Quietly, she glanced over and saw that all four vampires were busy talking with each other. Stealthily, she reached out and snagged the jewelry, tucking it into her pocket. She'd examine it more closely later.
Without warning, Paul threw himself down on the couch beside her, making her yelp with surprise. Smirking, he draped an arm over the back of the couch behind her. He took her hand with his free one and kissed the back of her hand before nibbling playfully on her knuckles.
Sevyn couldn't help but blush and smile at him, melting a little inside at his random act of affection. "Good morning, babe," he greeted, still smiling.
In response, she leaned over to place a kiss against the underbelly of his jaw where his pulse would be. The man shivered from her touch, shuffling closer if at all possible.
After some discussion, it was decided that they would make their way to the ocean to have a bonfire. This party was meant to be more chill; they were even dropping Star and Laddie off at the boardwalk where Star would likely find her way to Michael.
Let them entertain each other for a while, Sevyn figured it couldn't do any more damage than was already coming their way. It would seem that the others agreed with that plan.
After their pitstop at the boardwalk, the group made their way down to the beach to find themselves a secluded spot to chill. While the boys built the fire pit, Sevyn blinked back to her place to grab a bottle of tequila. She just wished she could bring some limes and salt to the beach.
Tequila was probably a bad choice – it made her make bad decisions. But, really, what has she done since she came here that would qualify as a good decision? She might as well continue on as she had been. It had been working well for her so far.
Before she went back to the beach, she pulled the anklet out of her pocket to examine it. There were six charms in all: the number seven, a book, a ferris wheel, a woman in lotus position, a pair of vampire fangs, and a crescent moon. It was gorgeous and clearly meant for her.
The implications behind the anklet were clear. They had been leaving things out for her to "steal." She wanted to be indignant about it, about them knowing her so well and manipulating her into accepting gifts, but really, she couldn't. It was incredibly sweet, and they just got her. How many people had ever truly gotten her?
By the time she returned, the fire was going, and the inevitable joint was lit. She sighed and sat down heavily beside Dwayne. He glanced over at her before offering her the joint in his hand.
Sevyn flashed him a smile before accepting his offering and taking a deep pull. She sighed happily after exhaling the drug, letting the light feeling sink into her bones. Once the joint was passed, she broke open the bottle of tequila and drank deeply from it before handing that off as well.
"Did you ever go to college?" Dwayne turned to her and asked while everyone around them chatted.
"Nope, I'm a thief, why would I? What would I major in? Business?" Without missing a beat, Sevyn mused, "Actually, that's not a bad idea. Graduate to white-collar crimes... Nah, I'm not wasting my money on school. I'll take free online – oh, right, no real internet. Ugh," Sevyn exclaimed, throwing her hands up and slumping her shoulders.
Dwayne smirked. Sometimes, he didn't even need to talk, which suited him just fine. She could have a whole conversation by herself. He found her rambling both endearing and entertaining. No one else could do it without being annoying. Sevyn just had that quality that drew you to her. Her flaws were balanced by the parts of her that warmed you up. She was like sunshine.
The night continued on like that. Fortunately, Sevyn brought her phone and Bluetooth speakers, and music was playing just loud enough to be heard. As the night wore on, Sevyn steadily became more intoxicated, which affected her music choices since she called being DJ.
She made an excited sound when Despacito came on, causing her to grab Paul and Marko's hands to drag them over to dance. She pulled them close, sandwiching herself in, and taught them how to dance to this kind of music. What it should really have been called was grinding.
While the two boys had no idea what the words were, they liked what it did to their girl and how she liked to dance. No, they definitely had no complaints. Marko had his hands on her hips from behind, while Paul's hands explored her bare waist under her shirt.
Things were heating up – their lips and teeth traveling the expanse of the elegant curves of her throat – when she was suddenly and gently pulled away from the pair just as things started getting heavier. She stumbled slightly into a shirtless chest.
Her hands came up to rest on the naked pecs in front of her, tilting her head up slowly until Dwayne was revealed. Her head was swimming at this point; the tequila made her hot and made her want to touch and touch a lot.
He shook his head indulgently at her and slowly guided her back to where they were sitting. When he sat down, he tugged her hand until she too sat down, but in his lap. She made a surprised noise, and it took her longer than it should have to see where she landed.
Sevyn smiled up at him and reached up to trace his lips. "You're staring."
"You're distracting," he countered.
"Thank you, by the way," Sevyn muttered, her words slightly slurred.
Dwayne's response was simply to raise an eyebrow.
"For the anklet. I assume it was your idea," she explained, her hand drawing circles absentmindedly on his chest.
"No, it wasn't my idea. I just got you a couple charms for it," Dwayne said.
Sevyn's eyebrows furrowed. As sweet as Paul is and as secretly romantic Marko is, she didn't see either of them coming up with the idea for the anklet. It took her addled brain a few moments to put the pieces together, but when she figured it out, her eyes widened. Her gaze went over to David, who had clearly been listening in.
Her cheeks flushed, though it was not all from the alcohol this time. David stared at her for another few moments, watching her over the rim of the tequila bottle, before turning back to Dwayne.
Dwayne curled his arms around her, holding her in place before resuming his conversation with David as if she didn't just have a drunken revelation that maybe David was starting to like her.
They sat around and talked for the rest of the night; Paul having taken over DJ duties. Unfortunately, sitting around for a while in Dwayne's lap caused sleepiness to find Sevyn. If she had just kept drinking, she would have powered through, but she had to share tonight, so she ran out.
The vampire below her noticed her getting tired and rolled his eyes playfully. "Lightweight," he teased.
"Am not," Sevyn complained through a yawn.
"You guys stay here and keep partying. I'm going to take this one home," Dwayne offered before standing up with their girl in his arms.
"Goodnight boys!" Sevyn shouted, having found the energy to yell one last time.