Haunted by Blood (The Lost Boys)

Conversing with Vampires

"You're only saying what you think you should say, only allowing yourself to feel what you think you should but how do you really feel? Why were you so horrified that you nearly bit that woman earlier today?"

"How do you know- because she was a person not a hamburger! And I'm not about to be responsible for her death..." Lily looked away at that.

"She's going to die either way," Paul chimed in. "Does it really matter if it's a few months or years sooner?"

For the first time she turned to Paul, "Of course it matters!"

"Why?" He cocked his head to the side looking genuinely curious.

David quietly watches on.

"Because she has more time to do things."

Paul nodded but continued with his line of questioning, "And when her life is over do those things really matter?"

"...I don't know but it might to people who care about her." Lily felt less sure of her answers as this continued. Why was she arguing for the life of a stranger?

David finally cut back in asking, "Are you one of those people?"

Lily snorted, "No but-"

"Only your answer is relevant the rest is just an excuse." Paul nodded in agreement to his fellow vampire's line of thinking.

Her dark eyes closed and she decided to concede to that, "Alright, I get what you're saying. That doesn't mean I want to kill anyone."

She didn't want to see anyone die ever again.

That thought made her realize she probably had a dead body phobia; it probably had an official name but she didn't know it or care. Clearly Lily had way more issues than she was comfortable admitting. She jokingly wondered if she had a phobia of vampires since technically, they were animated dead bodies.

David's expression told her he probably knew all about her new realization as well even if he wasn't giving voice to it.

"But you do want to live?" David pulled out a cigarette from behind his ear that she hadn't even realized was there.

"Obviously." She tightened her arms around herself defensively.

"Then you have to kill." It was so matter-of-factly that she wanted to punch him.

Instead she chose the less violent option, "Will I die if I don't?"

David calmly smoked his cigarette and seemed to be ignoring her so Paul answered her question, "No, but you'll wish you were dead."

The blond paused in his enjoyment of his smoke to ask, "Do you want to kill your brother?"

"Half-brother... you know about that too?" Her response was as automatic as it was to correct her name but then she understood what this meant. There didn't seem to be anything she could hide from him.

"He smells very good, doesn't he? Children usually do, though, they're not very filling. If you don't feed you will slip up and we all know who will likely die as a result."

Lily looked queasy at the thought as David butted his cigarette on his gloved hand and continued on, "That's the heart of the problem isn't it? Whenever you think about it you recall how you almost ate your half-brother. As much as you deny him the full term brother you still can't fathom him dying it's too close to-"

"Stop it!" Lily screamed.

The girl didn't want to talk about it. The whole reason she feared death in the first place, her first trauma, was clearly still very relevant even with all the others she now had. They shouldn't even know about her little brother. How long had they known? As far back as when they were still incorporeal and she was a kid who was petrified of death...?