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A bright light startled Michael awake, dammit he was knocked out cold. Dwayne had just came into the room and punched him in the face, effectively making him fall unconscious. He remembered Dwayne saying something about “saving Michael for David.”
Great.
He didn’t know how long he’d been out for, but the Frog brothers and Star were still gone. He wasn’t being attacked by David, so it couldn’t have been long.
His limbs weren’t fully awake so he crawled over to his brother. He felt weak. He was weak.
Michael’s diet would only be satisfied with the taste of blood. It was driving him insane, he was starving himself. Normal human foods did nothing, they all felt bland now.
Was there really any point of not giving in now? Of course there was, he didn’t want to kill someone. But every time he heard someone’s pulse, he got closer to breaking, biting down on their fragile skin, feeling satiated with the only food that would help at the moment.
Sam was scared of him. He knew it. Sometimes he felt like an animal. Working on instincts only. And his instincts were telling him to kill someone and drink their blood.
More than half of his only friends in Santa Carla were hunting him, now that he’d made his choice. Maybe they were hunting him to get him to finally fully join them, maybe it was to avenge Marko.
Marko. How did a fourteen year old with a stick of all things kill him?
Michael should have been there when it happened. There was no need to kill Marko when he already knew who the head vampire was.
David.
Sam was frozen staring at a now blown up stereo, sitting on his knees, and a crossbow in hand.
“Sam? You okay?” He asked groggily, clinging onto his brother’s arm. “The hell just happened?”
Sam didn’t look at Michael, only whispered in awe. “Death by stereo.”
The brothers rushed down the stairs cheering and going on about how they killed the drummer, Paul, in a holy water bath. Two of the Lost Boys, his friends, were dead. Three of you counted Marko.
Michael used the table to help himself up, his younger brother was watching him, worriedly.
Sam held the crossbow, looking around for David. “One more to go.”
The lights cut out, all the cheering was gone. It looked no different to Michael, with his enhanced sight. But Sam, Edgar, and Alan were left to wonder. The room felt eerily silent compared to how it was when he’d woken up.
The front door creaked open on its own, moonlight shining through.
“Go upstairs, Sammy. You’re not safe.”
“Neither are you! I’m not leaving you, Mike!”
“Fine.” They needed to plan this out quickly so none of them got hurt. “Cover me, then.”
Sam nodded, motioning for the brothers to follow him to the staircase.
“Afraid to show your face, David?!” Lights flickered. The door slammed shut. David’s laugh echoed. He liked that laugh earlier, now it was something to fear. Something that could and would kill him. It felt threatening.
He liked David far more than he ever should have. They had moments alone together where it felt they were more than friends, it was more of the opposite now. It was hard to tell that they’d ever been close.
Michael hadn’t really been given much of a choice on what side he should pick. Sure, Sam had helped killed Marko, but, David had attacked Sam.
It was still confusing, Marko probably wouldn’t have died if it weren’t for Michael. He could’ve talked to his brother. Told him about the band, about David.
The Head Vampire. There was no way he wasn’t.
Then again, if they killed David and not the other three, the remaining Lost Boys would come after them no matter what.
Star ran inside the room still carrying the stake Michael had given her. She was about to speak before being cut off by David’s whistling.
He could hear soft footsteps every so often all around the house. If the wind blew loudly in a specific direction, he’d whip his head around.
Michael turned back to his brother. A pale bleached blonde vampire was lowering himself just above Sam.
“Sammy! Watch out!”
Sam held up his crossbow as he turned around, but David was gone.
His brother’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak, but David got there first. He grabbed Michael’s throat tightly, lifting him at least an inch off of the ground.
“Leave him alone, David!” Star yelled holding onto her stake with both hands.
“Put it down, Star. You don’t have it in you to kill me.” David looked somewhat conflicted. His brows were furrowed and eyes narrowed. His face was stuck in a permanent frown even though seconds before he’d lured everyone in with whistling and laughter.
This was the only legitimate frown he’d seen from David yet.
“I don’t want to kill you, Michael. But I will if I have to.” He outstretched his left arm, preparing to stab his nails into Michael’s throat.
Edgar and Alan attempted to get David off of Michael by ramming themselves into the two of them.
His hand broke off from its strong connection to Michael’s jaw. Luckily for David, he got to move away in time. Michael, on the other hand, fell.
He got back up almost instantly, though, letting the brothers move away before doing anything. At the moment, they were only there for help, they had no idea what a Head Vampires powers could be.
Neither did Michael, but a Half Vampire could do more than a human ever could.
He tried to tackle David, who, in turn, lifted Michael into the air. He took control of Michael’s body so easily, barely a flick of the wrist.
He was spinning in the air involuntarily, throwing his legs around to try and force himself to the ground again. Star, Sam, and the brothers were watching below in shock. They’d probably never seen flying before. Star, maybe when she turned, but not like this. Not when he was forced into it like he was now.
David grabbed him by the throat again, stopping the thrashing, throwing him down hard onto the ground. He heard his brother yell his name on his way down.
“I tried to make you immortal.”
“You tried to make me a killer!” He pushed against David, so they could both stand. Michael punched him in the face, he hadn’t reacted in the slightest. Just like last time he tried that. David grinned, staring down Michael.
He had one hand gripped onto Michael’s chin, holding him in place. Michael, on the other hand, was grabbing onto his leather jacket with all his strength. Everyone else was watching, powerless. They probably couldn’t do much against the head vampire.
Or they were watching Michael’s every move like he had planned for this ahead.
He was going to die.
“You wanted to belong, didn’t you Michael?” David brought his left hand up to the one holding Michael. He drew his claw on the palm, enough to break skin. “You are a killer.”
The iron like smell hit Michael almost instantly. Star seemed to notice it too, she backed away behind the other three. It was too much up close. His grip on David loosened, as he paused to focus only on the blood.
“You belong to me. My blood is in your veins.” Michael didn’t have any weapons with him, no stakes or anything. What was he supposed to do?
The blood smelled so good, and he was so hungry. His fangs dropped down, eyes flashing gold and pupils dilating.
“Mike!” Sam yelled, attempting to snap him out of it.
As long as he didn’t kill someone, he’d be fine right?
He wouldn’t turn.
He pulled the palm of David’s hand up to his mouth, lapping up as much as he could, dragging David into him forcefully as he did. The vampire only seemed to laugh, charmed by how much Michael didn’t care. He bit down into the wound, pushing against the veins of his hand to try and bring more blood up.
Although David was giving words of praise to Michael continuously, he could barely hear it. It was hard to not have the blood at the center of his attention at this point.
His blood tasted even better than the first time, now that it wasn’t mixed in with the wine. Michael could almost feel the starvation waning.
Blood fell from Michael’s mouth and onto his chin. He got more sloppy over time, letting it get on his nose and flowing down his neck onto his sweater.
He grasped for more, more, more. Grabbing onto David’s elbow, his bicep, his shoulder. It made both of their positions more awkward. He was basically pulling David to the ground.
David finally stopped him, pulling Michael’s face away by his hair, for just long enough to let the cut close up on its own.
He stumbled back, falling down to his knees. He felt more awake, more aware of his surroundings. Michael could hear his brother with his friends whisper-yelling about what the hell to do. His friends had finally agreed not to kill Michael, to Sam’s relief.
Star was sat in the corner, on the verge of tears and sniffling slightly. She had barely controlled herself from the sight of blood that was within her reach. She was still keeping her distance, standing behind the kitchen counter.
“Fuck..” Michael didn’t wipe the blood from his face, just licked his lips. David just laughed. This was a high that nothing else could ever recreate.
His face dropped, however, when the door bursted open. Michael hid his it from his mother as soon as he saw she’d come in with her boss. Boyfriend. Whatever they were.
Something was off. As soon as the two set foot into the house, Michael crumbled up pain. He yelped and groaned, keeping himself up enough that he wouldn’t fall to the side.
“Oh my god!” He heard his mom shout.
“What’s going on here?” A second voice, Max, asked aggressively. It was vastly different to the last time they’d interacted the day before.
A taloned hand was rubbing his back soothingly with another pair soon joining David’s. His mom grabbed onto his dark gray sweater, unsure of what to do.
He tucked his head down, Michael could not let his mom see his face, she’d be horrified. And not just because of the blood dripping from his chin to the wooden floor. His teeth were sharpened to fangs meant for killing. Normal eyes now replaced with ones of a snake.
Or a vampire. The far worse option of the two.
“Are you alright?!” She seemed to glance confusedly at David for a moment before returning her gaze to Michael’s back.
Edgar and Alan were motioning with their hands rapidly trying to communicate something to Sam and Ms. Emerson. They landed on pushing Sam to his mother to drag her away from Michael, and possibly more importantly, David.
They were threats that needed to be taken care of in the Frog’s eyes.
Sam latched onto one of his mother’s hands, pulling her away. He tried to gain her focus with direct eye contact and having her face away from Michael and David.
“Mom, listen, you’re never gonna believe me…” Sam started.
“Forgive me, Lucy. This is all my fault.” Everyone, except for David, paused and stared at Max. Michael even looked up, now revealing himself to the two of them. Lucy hadn’t seemed to notice his blood-covered face yet, but Max sure as hell did.
David just continued to rest his hands on Michael’s back.
“What?” Lucy asked, eyebrows furrowed.
“David.” Max was staring at the bleached blond, eyes watching Michael as well because of the twos proximity. Everyone followed his eyes path to the two vampires on the ground. “My boy.”
Lucy gasped, backing up from her son in what he saw as pure fear. She bumped into the kitchen counter, the only thing stopping her from moving further away from him. He probably looked disgusting, animalistic, a monster. Did she know it wasn’t his blood?
His mom payed no mind to David now.
“What did you say…?” Michael asked turning to face David’s eyes for confirmation. The vampire didn’t say anything for once. “David?” He grabbed onto David’s jacket, forcing him to look at Michael.
Michael forced his body under his own. It was fairly easy because of his newfound strength the blood had given him. David wasn’t really laying down under him, his legs were thrown awkwardly to the side and he was holding himself up with his arms, but still under him nonetheless.
“Michael!” Three voices said practically at the same time. His brother, his mom, and David. Sam sounded scared, his mother a mix of worry and warning, he didn’t know what the vampire was feeling.
It was hard to tell in the moment. It always was really. Maybe he was just teasing Michael by responding with his name after being yelled his own. He’d never seen David truly scared.
His eyes were shining up at Michael in the low lamplight. Michael’s breathing quickened despite the fact that he didn’t have the need to as a vampire. He put a hand over the left side of his chest. His heart was still beating. Good. The blood hadn’t done anything permanent.
“No matter how hard I tried,” Max continued, now cornering Lucy against the wood of the counter. “He just wouldn’t listen.” He spoke through his teeth, clearly annoyed now.
“Max. You’re scaring me…” she rounded the corner of the counter, now closer to the door than anything. His mom could just leave, she should leave. They could deal with Max, hopefully.
“You belong with me. It was all going to be perfect. My boys needed a mother. Yours needed a father. Still do. David isn’t the Head Vampire, Michael.”
“It-it’s him! It’s Max!” Sam shouted. Edgar and Alan took out their stakes.
“Attack!” Edgar went first charging at Max, Alan and Sam were just behind him. Max threw out one of his hands, throwing the three to the ground. The two brothers took the brunt of the fall, knocking into each other on their way down. Sam had flown straight into the couch, he would be fine.
Star made her way around the dining table to check up on the two of them. It seemed they were conscious, just bruised was all.
Sam looked over at his friends, then to Max, stunned. “You passed the tests….”
“Never invite a vampire into your home, Michael.”
Michael was barely listening. He let go of David, standing up silently. “I didn’t invite you this time.”
“Don’t try anything. It’s clear you’re not powerful enough. You can’t avoid the temptation it gives you.”
Michael tried to run up and tackle him. His body stopped in the air as Max lifted a hand. Max had taken control of his body just as David had just a few minutes before. But unlike Max, David had given him the chance to move on his own. He just messed with him, forcing him to fly. Max froze him completely.
His body ached, his limbs stretched out and shaking. He could turn his head and speak but that was about it. Nausea was building up in his throat. He didn’t know if Max was intentionally causing it to get him to back off or not. Michael was trying to force himself to move, nothing was working.
“Leave him alone!” His mother yelled.
“It’s for his own good, Lucy. Boys like David and him need chains.”
Michael was suspended a few feet off the air, his mom had to believe something wrong was happening now. There was really no logical way to explain her son floating. Max walked up to his right side, which was just above the Head Vampire’s waist.
“Can’t you feel my blood in your veins, Michael?” Max taunted.
“Fuck you!” was all he said, out of air.
David took his chance to attack, springing up and wrapping his hands around the front of Max’s neck. He dug his nails into it, kicked his boots into his back, tried to keep his position, but it wasn’t working.
The only thing it had done was distract Max enough to drop Michael without warning, allowing him to fall to the floor. His left side hit the wood, he groaned rolling over so his back was on the ground.
Max threw David to the floor, keeping his shoe on the vampires chest until he decided to stop struggling.
He pushed down on David’s ribs the longer he took, using his own abilities to weaken him just as he had Michael. David tried staying silent, no matter how much Max was hurting him.
“Stop fighting.” The Head Vampire snapped down at David. He took control of Sam’s body as well, just in case he decided to attack again. Sam flailed and yelled for help.
Weirdly, he didn’t do anything to Star. He knew she didn’t have it in her to fight him on her own. Just as David had said. The stake Michael had given her had been forgotten in the ground. It was close to him.
Max turned back to his mom. “You can’t give Sam and Michael what they need. But I can, we can. Together. As a family.” He walked back up to Lucy, reaching out his hand.
She looked behind him at everyone that had tried to fight. Then her eyes landed on Michael and Sam.
“Mom. Please. Don’t!”
Michael rolled onto his stomach, trying to be as discreet as possible while moving. He knew he was being loud and the wood beneath him was creaking, Max just didn’t seem to care.
He reached for the stake by Star’s foot. She looked down at him, kicking the stake closer to his hands. The Frogs had finally sat up planning their next move in hushed voices.
“Don’t do it! Get away from him, mom!” Sam yelled.
Lucy took Max’s hand.
That’s when Michael decided to act.
He stood up shakily, trying his best to not let Max see him. Again, the man didn’t care enough to notice. Weren’t vampires supposed to have great hearing?
He plunged the stake into Max’s back right where his heart should be. Max let go of his mom, grabbing at his suit where the stake had gone through the cloth.
Max stepped back, the stake didn’t move from where it had entered.
In a big flash of flames, Max was nothing but ashes. A shame too. His blood smelled so good. All he had gotten was it spurting in his face from the wound. Michael wiped it off, licking what was left of the Head Vampire now.
Michael felt exhausted. He heard a thump behind him so Sam must have dropped to the floor.
Was he normal again? Would he ever be even if he was human? He didn’t feel much different now that Max was dead.
“That was wild.” Edgar said as he sat up.
David was just now lifting his head off of the wood. His hair was ruffled, straying from the near perfection it was any other time Michael had seen him.
“You killed him.”
“A ‘thank you’ would be nice, David.”
David only nodded as he fiddled with his key necklaces. He stood up, coming closer to Michael. The Frogs were staring down the side of his face.
He was the reason Michael had gotten turned. But, if he hadn’t, he’d be long dead. They’d have eaten him a long time ago if David hadn’t seen something special about Michael.
It was all so stupid. He cared for David, and there was no undoing that no matter how much of an asshole he was.
David had chosen the lesser of two evils for him. Michael wouldn’t ever thank him for not killing him though, that would be stupid.
“Is it over?” Sam asked as Alan helped him stand up straight.
Michael answered. “I don’t feel any different still.”
Star froze.
“What?” He asked. She looked so afraid. “What is it?”
“I do.” Star said finally, starting to sound choked up.
Everyone went still. Max counted. Michaels first goddamn kill. He couldn’t just stand there and watch. He had to help his mom.
After a few seconds David spoke up.
“I won?” David smiled, slinking his arm around Michael’s shoulders, and grabbing his chin lightly.
He brought up Michael’s top lip with his gloved hands checking if he still had fangs. Michael did.
“Nice teeth.”
Michael didn’t do or say anything. He couldn’t think of what to do next. His mind was already fucked as it is, drifting off half the time to think about the insides of a person. It was persistent and awful having those thoughts constantly.
He should be mad. He knows he should be. But for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at David. It had been the same when he’d crashed his bike and when he’d confronted David after he’d turned.
“Come on, Michael. It’ll be sunrise soon.”
He could just follow David.
It was somehow the easiest and safest option. He didn’t want to burn up or whatever would happen to him now. Staying in this house would make that certain, especially with all the new damage to the walls and windows.
Michael didn’t know what David was going to do to him. Would he try and help Michael? Or would he hurt him for killing his brothers?
He gave his family and Star one last look before leaving with David.
This wouldn’t be the last time he’d see them. Michael could come back tomorrow night.