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"Can we drown?" Star's voice rang with excitement, she was stretched across the couch with her head in Marko's lap, her face turned to follow David as he circled around them towards the chair he claimed. Star had been a vampire for a little more than a week. She was wild with energy and wonder. Everything was brand new to her, each day she heard more and smelt more, saw in greater detail. She could even hear the boys in her head now. The feeling reminded Star of how she felt when she saw the ocean for the first time.
"No one's ever tried to drown me" David chuckled. The three of them were alone in the cave, unwinding together in the heat of a fire. Star was exceptionally inquisitive tonight as she and Marko shared gulp after gulp of red wine. "But I can't imagine so, we don't really need to breathe" he took a long drag on his cigarette as Star sat up in surprise.
"What? We don't need to breathe?" She repeated and David shook his head.
"It's muscle memory, an instinct to keep doing it. But we don't need oxygen to function." Her maker explained. Marko chuckled at Star's happy sigh, she settled back into his lap and he immediately brought his fingers back to comb through her hair as he had been.
"You're invincible, princess" he cooed at her as she smiled up at him. She'd fallen in love with his smile, it was full of mischief and felicity, and as he sat now in relaxation that smile didn't leave him. He draped his forearm across her tummy and she held it close with both of her small, cold hands.
"Do you know other vampires?" She spoke up again after just a few seconds of silence.
"Only a few. I had different friends when I was younger, we've all spread apart now." David answered her.
"Did you share blood with them? Like us?" She asked, her big eyes focused on his face.
"No, I just stayed with them. One of them was made by the same man as me but we didn't get on particularly well." He explained.
"And who made you?" She asked immediately as he finished. He sighed annoyedly this time and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"No one you know" he walked to the radio and clicked it on. Paul kept it loud and it blared Van Halen loudly after a split second of static.
Star was confused but even in her tipsiness could tell she'd asked an off limits question. She frowned and bagan shifting to sit up, but Marko was watching her, he felt her tense and tapped his index finger against her exposed hip bone to get her attention. She looked up at him and he smiled at her, he rubbed his thumb along her jaw and leaned down to plant a comforting kiss on her forehead. The information she sought was something David refused to discuss, with anyone, but she had no way of knowing it wasn't personal.
"Where's Paulie?" She picked at a ring on his finger with her long nails.
"He'll be home soon, he's with Dwayne, they won't be getting into any trouble" His thumb continued sweeping up and down her jaw. She nodded and then after looking over to see David putting his jacket on and stepping passed them towards the door, she closed her eyes.
Star heard the rumble of his bike's engine on the wind and she knew he was gone. "I didn't mean to." Her sad voice matched her face.
"He just doesn't talk about it, you didn't do anything" he told her, pulling her up the couch and fully into his lap.
"But he ran off" She whined.
"No, no'' he assured her "He's gonna go find someone to eat, that's all" he drummed on her lower back with his palm to soothe her. "What about you, are you hungry?" She shook her head no and sniffled. "Ok, no worries" he used his other hand to move a curl behind her ear.
"David said you were sick" She leaned her head into his shoulder, it was suddenly heavier on her neck.
"What?" He chuffed.
"When he made you, he said you were dying" She twiddled with the zipper on his jacket.
"Oh, yeah" his voice went a little solemn. "Yeah, I had a disease that was killing all my insides. It got worse and worse as I got older. Wasn't doing too well when I met David." He told her. She was nuzzling into his chest as he spoke. He could feel her relaxing and he too let himself sink further into the couch underneath them.
"How did you meet him?" She asked.
"He just showed up, really" the golden haired boy laughed a little. "I was living way up the coast, in Washington, and he started coming to the bar I hung around." He shrugged his shoulders.
"No please, tell me" She prodded.
"What do you want me to say? I don't know. He was beautiful, you've seen him." He smiled. "I said hello a few times and then I was fascinated and couldn't leave him alone." He told her.
"Did you know you were gonna die?" Her voice was sleepier. He nodded again.
"Yeah, I did. He told me after I turned that he had smelt it on me already."
"Did you think he was a monster?" Star wondered how he handled the truth that took her years to process.
"Fuck no. I was gonna die, Star. I was 20 years old and I was gonna die. He saved me, he was anything but a monster" Marko's words seeped love and gratitude.
Star pictured the beautiful cherub of a man that was wrapped around her as a frail, thin, gray human and her heart pulled. She'd chosen life too, just a week ago when the pain of death teased her. She understood his admiration.
"I'm glad he saved you" She told him finally.
"Me too" he laughed at her serious, drunk expression. He pushed curls back from her forehead and kissed the side of her face, just by her eye. She closed her eyes and gave a contented wiggle against his pelvis. Her breaths slowed and slowed as she fell into a wine-induced sleep.
Marko sat still and silent until the laughter of his three companions began to echo through the cave. "Oh no, Star couldn't hang, huh?" Paul laughed as he came in to begin his circling of the fountain.
"Nah, guess this old wine's pretty killer" he smiled back.