black roses | The Lost Boys (1987)

xii.

David chuckled darkly, his expression slowly turning annoyed. "You knew there was a price, and we'll protect you. We'll be the family you never had. We're probably the best bet you've got here, but you need to realize that you asked for it. You took that bottle."

Star shook her head fiercely, and she moved to Dwayne and me, grabbing Laddie from my arms. I wanted to protest, but she gave me no room as she pulled him with her. "I'm going home, David. I'm going to think. Don't fucking come near me."

David simply raised his hand and waved her goodbye as she stomped down the boardwalk to wherever she was staying. I watched her disappear into the crowd, and I frowned a bit. Dwayne squeezed my side reassuringly, and Marigold was silent. I turned to see her frowning before she stood and walked away. I let her.

"I shouldn't have given her the bottle," I mumbled, rubbing my hands over my face in exasperation. "I'm a terrible friend. She's going to hate me now."

David's eyes snapped to me, and he shook his head, walking over so he could sit on the other side of me, slinging his arm around my shoulders. "No, we were going to have to do it either way. She'll trust you once she gets over it."

I nodded slowly and huffed, leaning my head on his shoulder. "How did you guys become vampires?"

David hummed and turned a bit, looking at me. "I was turned in the late 1800s. I was twenty-one, and I worked with my family on a farm. I had about seven siblings, so no one really noticed when I disappeared. I didn't belong there, but I really didn't know where I did belong. Max found me after I beat up these kids trying to take my things. I had 'run away' from my family the other night." He used air quotations at the 'run away' part. "I kind of just disappeared. Max took me in and helped me live. I didn't drink from the bottle, I drank from his wrist after I saw him kill someone. He explained everything, and I just joined. I checked in on my family a while after, and it was like I was never there in the first place, so I don't really feel that bad."

David then looked over to Dwayne as did I. He smiled a bit and talked quietly. "David found me when I was twenty-two, I believe. He had been a vampire for about ten years, and he stumbled into the shop I was running with my mother. He stumbled in and knocked over two of our stands. Mom immediately screamed about demons, said he was filled with them. She tried to throw him out of the store, and I was barely able to stop her. He was passed out, and the sun was rising, so I threw him in one of the backrooms and told her that I would watch him. She was mad, told her that I needed to obey her, but I knew I couldn't do that. There was something about him that made me want to save him. The next night, he woke up and thanked me, told me he was running from a group of boys, though I later learned that he actually just forgot the sun was rising soon and knew he couldn't make it back to his home. He was lucky I put him in the room with no windows." David huffed, and I knew he was rolling his eyes. "He befriended me over a year, and then, I drank from the bottle, though it looked different at that time. I don't regret it either, but I still send money to my family every month."

Marko was next, and he easily stepped in front of us, his arm thrown around Paul. "I was next! It was like 1917. I was seventeen, and I was running because I was drafted into the war. I ran from New York to Idaho, and I met David and Dwayne in a diner. They kind of persuaded me to come with them, and I just followed. I was supposed to be their dinner that night, but I guess they kind of grew attached to me that night, and I drank about a week later."

"Then, me," Paul dragged out the sentence, a grin on his lips. "I was turned twenty-two years ago! I was an orphan, and I had just got pushed out of the orphanage because I turned eighteen. I slept in the streets for like half a year when I ran into Marko over here. He was coming out of a bar with this guy, and he pulled him into the alley I was sleeping in, and then just killed him. I tried running, and then he caught me, and I was brought to them, and they gave me the option to live or die, and I chose to live, though I guess I technically died in the process. I have the most boring story out of all of you guys!" He huffed and crossed his arms, and the others laughed.