Set In Motion
“Damn, I left my jacket on the beach.”
“Leave it, I'll get you a new one.” David said impatiently.
“I don't want a new one; I want that one.” Star nudged him playfully.
“She does look pretty hot in it, David.”
Paul laughed, earning him a glare from David. Star giggled silently,
trying to hide her amusement from him.
“I promise I won't be long, please?”
“You'll come straight back?”
“Yes, I'll come straight back. Wouldn't want me falling in with the wrong crowd, would we?"
David gave her a warning look, which she
returned with a smile. Teasing him about his overprotective ways, was
one of her favourite games, just as his manipulation over where she
could go and who she could talk to was one of his. Star had discovered
in the months she had lived with the boys, that a relationship with
David; either romantic or otherwise was impossible without playing along
with his mind games.
David looked at each of the knowing
glances on each of his boys' faces, and then to Star, who already knew
she had won this round.
“Fine.” David replied in his controlled tone of voice.
"She's turning you soft, man." Dwayne mumbled loud enough for David to hear. David sighed, knowing it was true.
Star hurried back through the crowds to
the beach. If she had been mortal, it would be near impossible to
remember the exact spot, they had been earlier that night, especially
with the darkness overwhelming most senses. Being a vampire, she no
longer needed to rely solely on memory or sight, when her sense of smell
had increased exponentially.
Within a few minutes, Star had located
her jacket and ran over to it, brushing off the sand and slipping into
the familiar feel of it around her shoulders. She had started walking
back when her enhanced hearing told her there was someone behind her. Of
course, it might simply be a party-goer; as she passed quite a few on
her way here. However, the footsteps shadowed her own movements, which
could only mean that someone was following her.
He really doesn't trust me.
Star thought bitterly to herself. She had
been full now for just over six months and still hadn't been allowed
completely out of David's sight, in case she had “urges” beyond her
control and drew unnecessary attention to the boys. The transition had
been hard on her, and it had taken some time to become altogether
comfortable with joining the ranks of her brethren.
Star understood David's reasons for
keeping her by his side, truly she did, but how could she ever learn to
be restrained if she wasn't allowed off the leash every now and then?
She decided to take out her frustration on whoever was stalking her.
“Which one of you is my designated shadow
tonight, huh?” Only to find it wasn't one of the boys. Granted it was a
boy, just not someone whom she recognised. His hair was dark with a
platinum-blonde streak. He had a hard, angular face and a mouth that
seemed to be permanently turned up into a sneer.
“Sorry, thought you were somebody else.” She mumbled.
“That's alright. Hey, you ride with them
bikers, right?” His voice was deep and gravelly and his words spoken
slowly, deliberately.
“Um, yeah.” She answered cautiously.
“Where are they now? Doesn't seem right that they should let a girl like you roam around on your own.”
“I can take care of myself.”
He laughed.
“I'm sure you can. I’m Greg, and you are?”
“I've got to go.”
“No. You don't.”
“What?”
Star turned to find a group of
haphazardly dressed men, closing in on her. She drew on her increasing
strength and punched Greg as hard as she could. The rest of the gang
grabbed her before she could swing again.
“You little bitch!” One of them screamed at her.
“Now. That wasn't very nice was it? We
were just being friendly, is all.” Greg got up, dabbed at the side of
his mouth where Star had hit him and spat the blood out, sending its
delicious scent over to her. The smell made her head swim and her body
began to shake. It felt as though she hadn’t eaten in a month, not
half-an-hour ago. The guys holding her tightened their grip, thinking
that she was trying to escape.
Oh God, let me go…please, I don’t want to hurt you.
“Get your hands off me.” She growled. A
part of her questioned why she was allowing this to continue, when all
she had to do was…
“And what if we don't, hmm?”
Just rip his throat out, Star, it would be so easy.
NO!
I made David a promise.
Greg cupped her face and tried to kiss
her. Instinct took over as she lashed out and bared her fangs, snapping
at anything within biting distance. Star thought she had learned her
lesson from when she had saved Laddie. It was obviously a lesson she
hadn't learned completely. A haze had settled over her and now all that
mattered was feeling the sensation of blood pouring down her throat.
In the blur that was Star fighting off
grabbing hands and the boys trying to overpower her, someone managed to
land a blow to her stomach. It seemed silly that she should still be
affected by such things when she couldn't essentially be winded, maybe
it was the shock of the action. Either way, the haze lifted slightly and
Star crumpled up into a ball on the sand. Greg made his way over and
lifted her up by the shoulder of her jacket, and with his other hand, he
made a fist and punched her hard in the face. Star tried to drag
herself backward, but the guys behind held her down. She felt Greg's
weight fall on top of her and his hands wrestling with her clothes while
the others cheered him on.
“Oh you really don't want to do that.” She said through gritted teeth.
“And why's that?”
There was a growl behind him. When he
turned round his head snapped around, and a spray of blood and sweat hit
her in the face, setting off her blood-lust once more. A violent brawl
ensued as the Surf-Nazi's tried to protect their leader from the
newcomer. Star got to her feet and landed a few punches of her own. Once
they started to run she collapsed onto the sand. A hand reached for
hers, and she lashed out. The arm that was defending her from her
attacker received a playful nip. Looking up she realised that the hands
reaching for her belonged to Dwayne.
“What happened?” he asked, as his features transformed back into his human visage with a scowl on his face.
Star shook her head - she wasn’t entirely
sure herself. Dwayne held out his hand once more and this time; she
reluctantly took it. Star really didn't want to go back and face David
right now. She loved him, but it seemed like all she did these days was
disappoint him, and the mental torture that he put her through when he
was proved right was unbearable.
David had been very specific about the
type of prey she was allowed to hunt, while she adjusted to her new
self. Groups such as that were out of the question unless she had the
boys to back her up, as someone could easily escape. They were fun for
just letting yourself go, and yet even in those feeding frenzies she
hadn’t felt herself lose control like she just had.
Dwayne led her back to the bikes at a
leisurely pace with his arm around her shoulders. She shivered, but not
from the cold. She was unused to this sort of loving touch from her
brothers. Sure they hugged and rough-housed, but this gentle embrace was
usually reserved for David alone. Taking care of Laddie had brought
Star and Dwayne closer, but she still didn't feel as familiar with him
as she did with the others.
“Why didn’t you call for us?” He asked,
so quietly that she wasn't sure he had actually spoken. She shrugged,
trying to ignore the first thought that had popped into her head…
Why would I? They belonged to me.
“You didn't kill them.”
I would have, if you hadn’t intervened.
“I didn't think David would like that
many bodies on his hands.” She answered quickly. Where were these
thoughts coming from? Star jumped as a bark of laughter escaped Dwayne’s
mouth.
“What's funny?”
“You worry more about the clean up than
whether you could have handled them all? You're definitely becoming one
of us, Star.” She tried to smile, however, it fell when she saw David.
Paul and Marko were trying to keep Laddie amused, and David was getting
more impatient by the second.
“There you are. Where have you been?”
“David...” Marko nudged him when he
noticed Star. David's eyes went wide as he took in the dishevelled state
she was in. The tears in her favourite jacket, the blood falling from
her nose and mouth, the bruises around her eyes already starting to
show.
“Star?” Laddie cried, scrambling off the back of Paul's bike and into her arms.
“It's okay, Laddie. I'm okay.”
“What the hell happened?” asked David.
“Surf-Nazi's. Jumped her.” Dwayne
established. David turned an impressive shade of red, before muttering
something about killing them, and speeding off into the night.
“David!” She screamed after him, but he'd already gone.
“Get on!” Marko said to her, revving his engine. “We gotta catch him before he does something stupid.”
They raced off after him, weaving in and
out of the crowds, earning them curses as they passed. Paul caught sight
of David tearing past the stadium and increased his speed. With one
swift movement, he skidded in front of David's bike, blocking his way.
“Paul, get out of my way!” As Dwayne and
Marko pulled up next to him, Star jumped off Marko's bike and grabbed
David's gloved hand.
“David, don't.”
“They hurt you— ”
"Yeah, and we'll get them for it, but not here, not now.”
“C'mon, David. You're the one who's
supposed to be teaching her self-control.” Paul laughed. David nodded
and smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
“Hey, you!” They all looked around to see a portly security guard waving his baton at them.
“Is there a problem?” David asked as innocently as David could.
“Yes there is. I'm sick of you kids terrorising the Boardwalk.”
“It won't happen again.”
“Damn right it won't. Stay off the
Boardwalk. Consider this a warning.” He scowled at us and turned away,
probably off to spoil someone else's fun. Star was unsure if vampires
possessed killing stares, but the way they were all glaring at the
security guard, she doubted he'd be alive for much longer.
“Come on, Boys. Time to go home.” David
sighed irritably. He helped Star onto the back of his bike and headed
towards the cave at breakneck speeds. Despite the pain that embraced
her, she wrapped her arms around his waist tighter as he increased to a
speed that left the others trailing far behind.
His muscular body was unusually tense
under her touch, and she started to fear what he might be planning. Not
only, had “his girl” been attacked, but some asshole had actually
attempted to tell his gang what they couldn't do. She wouldn't want to
be an enemy of The Lost Boys right now.
David pulled up sharply next to the
wooden steps. He was already heading across the rickety bridge, and was
nowhere to be found inside the cave once the boys caught up. As soon as
they reached the bottom of the rubble covered steps leading into the
cave, Paul immediately turned on his rock-box, and normality seemed to
resume. Marko attended to the few pigeons that had decided to roost
inside the cave for the night, while Dwayne sat with Laddie, reading
comic books to him.
Although he was nowhere in sight, Star
knew exactly where David would be. Whenever his frustrations threatened
to seep to close to the surface, David always sought solace in a cove
around the back of the cave. It was higher above the water than the
entrance to the cave was, the crashes of waves weren't so deafening and
the sea spray seemed to comfort him.
“You all right, girl?” Paul asked,
jumping down from the fountain. He had been trying to get her to dance
with him for the past half hour, but a persistent dull aching in her
body had made her decline. It now seemed to be getting worse.
“Hmm.”
Star rested her throbbing head in her
hands. Her limbs felt heavy and although her eyes perceived their
movement, it seemed to take a while for her brain the process the
information. She was vaguely aware of a voice speaking to her. Looking
up she found Paul watching her with a frown on his face. It was so
strange to see that expression on his face, that she burst out laughing.
Star instantly regretted the action when the nausea hit her.
“Paul...I don't—don't feel so good...” She barely heard him yell "whoa," before She passed out.
“What happened?” asked Marko.
“I dunno, she just passed out. Help me get her over to the bed.”
“I'll get David.” said Dwayne, putting
down the comic he was reading and heading towards the back of the cave.
Laddie rushed over to the bed and held Star's hand. Dwayne quickly
returned with David, who bent over her form and kissed her gently on the
forehead.
“Marko, get the bottle.” David uncorked
the bottle and tilted it to Star's lips, slowly allowing the blood to
trickle down her throat.
“What's wrong with her?” Marko asked.
“She spent too long as a half, rejecting
blood. She became a full on too little blood, that coupled with the
attack tonight has weakened her. She'll be okay in a couple of days, but
until then the blood-lust could overwhelm her. We'll need to keep an
eye on her, if she's allowed to give in to her blood-lust completely,
she could become feral.”
“Feral?” asked Paul.
“It's what happens when new vampires are
left to their own devices without guidance.” Murmured Dwayne looking
knowingly at David.
“How'd you know that?” Paul asked.
“Because it's what happened to Dwayne...” David answered. “It's how Max, and I found him.”
“So you can bring back feral vampires?” asked Marko.
“It's rare to succeed completely. We were
lucky with Dwayne.” David sighed and caressed Star's face. “I failed
her tonight. When she left the gypsy camp, I promised her that I would
protect her from ever getting hurt again.”
“You couldn't have known those assholes were going to jump her.” said Paul.
“Yeah, man. Let's just take them out. We aren't the only ones who wouldn't miss them around Santa Carla.” said Marko.
“I'm sure Max would just love that surge of bodies turning up.” said Dwayne.
“No, Dwayne. Marko's got a point. Fuck Max, this is between us and them.”
When the sun had set the following night, the boys had only one thing on their mind; revenge.Next Chapter
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