Something Wicked

Grief

October was swaying on her feet as she all but threw the three former vampires out of her room.

They retreated to Paul's room without much ceremony. Instead of resting, they each claimed a spot around the room and amused themselves with something or other. Paul sat cross legged on the floor in front of a box of records. Marco splayed out on the bed with a bottle of booze. And Dwyane pulled out a book to read at a table.

What went down in October's room was left unmentioned. No, a different thought simmered in the back of their heads as they awaited their leader's return. They each tried to ignore it, push it down. Marco tried to drown it in alcohol. Dwayne repeatedly read the same page over and over again. And Paul could only thumb through the same collection of records so many times.

Paul paused in his browsing. "Do we talk about it?" he broached the question hesitantly.

Marco cracked open an eye and glanced at Paul from the corner of his eye. He said nothing. There was no need to ask what he meant. He already knew because he was thinking the same thing. They all were.

Dwayne looked up from his book, scowled, and turned back to what he was reading. "What's there to talk about?" he countered.

"Michael."

Marco sat up and the others turned to the open door. David casually entered the room with a bag of takeout food. He set the bag down on the spare table Dwayne was reading at before claiming the loveseat on the other side of the room.

David stared hard into the distance. "We trusted him. Made him one of us. Then, he betrayed us."

The word 'betrayal' in no way shape or form remotely covered what Michael did to them. What he did to them forever changed them.

A heaviness settled over the room. The boys left the food on the table left untouched. In silence, they each contemplated the events that delivered them to their fate and it left them feeling carved out and hollow.

"We died," Marco stressed.

The emotional outpour was a delayed reaction. As though saying the words out loud, a damn was broken.

Suddenly Marco couldn't breathe. Horror welled up in his chest and pressed on his lungs. Dwayne noticed right away. He moved to the bed and pulled his brother into his arms. Guilt stabbed at him because no matter what he did now would never undo what had happened. Marco had been murdered in his sleep and he hadn't been able to save him. David and Paul felt similarly, especially seeing Marco in this state. They gravitated towards the others until the four of them came together in a group embrace.

With the memory of Marco dying beside them still fresh, the weight of their mortality, even David's, was almost too much to bear. David had almost died. The others actually had died. All at the hands of a couple of amateurs! Never before had their antics backfired so tremendously.

The promise of eternity is what being a vampire was all about. The Emerson clan robbed them of that promise. Now that three out of four Lost Boys were alive again and, for the moment, safe, they were fearful. Fearful of fate coming back to finish the job.

In that moment they shared their grief unreservedly. That's how October found them. Huddled together, teary eyed and trembling.

"What's going on? Are you guys okay?" she gasped as though she was out of breath from running. Her hair was damp from a bath and her clothes were slightly askew like she got dressed in a hurry.

Marco growled at her. "We're having a moment here."

October faltered. "I felt... I thought something was wrong." A beat passed as the tumblers in brain turned. And then, something occurred to her. "Holy crap, I can feel what you guys feel!"

The four Lost Boys shared a skeptical look as they broke apart their huddle..

October shook her head at them. She stared down at the scars on her palms. Only thin, silvery lines ran down the life line on her palms remained of the cuts. Somehow, they were already healed. Then it clicked. "Oh I get it. I used my blood in the ritual."

The Lost Boys did not seem to pick up what she concluded. "And that means what exactly?" David asked.

October crossed her arms and frowned. "We're connected."

"Like a sire bond?" Paul gave voice to what they were all wondering.

If she said yes it would mean that she could give them orders they would be compelled to obey. They could tolerate being linked to someone they just met, but a sire bond was definitely a worst case scenario. David was supposed to be the leader. His brothers would chose to follow him over anyone else.

October blinked owlishly. "I don't know what that means."

David shot a warning glare at the others. "Don't worry about it," he interjected. "There's food on the table. You're welcome to it."

October looked like she wanted to argue, but the thought of food was too good to pass up.

"We're going to need to talk about how this whole living situation is going to work. I don't know about you, but I can't live off of take out food alone. And it's not like I was able to pack a bag when I traveled through fucking time," October complained as she nicked a burger and some fries.

Paul snickered in response to David's scowl.

"Goodnight, October," their leader growled.

October sniffed indignantly before stalking to towards the doorway. "Evening, boys," she replied coolly, flicking her long hair over her shoulder.

Her breezy exit lightened the tone of the room and the Lost Boys were grateful. David watched from the loveseat as his brothers dug into their dinner with careless vigor. For a moment he could pretend everything was as it had been. Nothing was different. He didn't have to worry about his brothers mortality and how terrifyingly vulnerable they were.

They had enemies. Of course they did. You don't live as long as they have without making a few. Not to mention, Vampires were territorial by nature. If word got out that the Lost Boys were vulnerable... David shuddered at the thought of what their enemies would do to his brothers. They would probably make him watch, too. There was no way he was going to watch his brothers get massacred again.

He needed to turn his brothers, and soon.