An hour later, my loves and I, and Max following in his car, arrived at Grandpa's house. I hurried to the doorway and knocked on the door. The door was opened wide and Lucy stood there. "Maddie, there you are, come inside! You've been sick, you'll catch your death out there, and just look, it's starting to rain!" she said and yanked me inside. I turned and nodded to the boys and Max. "Um, Mom?" I said, catching her attention. She looked up and saw the others there, "Oh! Oh, please, all of you come in, it's going to pour any second now," she said and welcomed them into the house.
"Mom, no!" Sam shouted from the doorway catching everyone's attention. "They're vampires!"
"Sam! What in the world?" Mom said, rolling her eyes.
"No, Mom, I'm serious!" he said.
"Sammy," I said softly, and he looked at me like he was going to cry.
"You don't believe me either, Maddie?" he said sadly. I opened my arms to him and he ran into them, burying himself into my shoulder. I shushed him quietly and sat down on the sofa, rubbing his back and shoulders. I heard the door shut and then saw Michael and Star coming down the stairs, Laddie's little hand clutched in hers. Laddie saw me and his eyes lit up. "Maddie!" he cried and ran to me, throwing himself in my lap and cuddling against me. I wrapped my other arm against him. "Laddie, my baby boy!" I said, nuzzling into the top of his head. I smelled that soft scent that only young children have and almost felt like purring in completion. Is this what being a mother felt like? This fierceness, protective, love-filled feeling?
I felt Dwayne's hand cover mine where it held Laddie to me, and knew that he felt the same way about Laddie. A son. Our child.
"Maddie?" Michael's voice was nervous and I looked up to see him and smiled. "Hi there, brother-mine," I said. He seemed to be relieved that I wasn't vamping out or anything. My not being a full vampire must have relieved something inside him, because he took Star's hand and sat on the couch across from us, but still seemed nervous. "We need to talk, all of us. Mom, you too. Please, everyone sit down," I said.
"Max, why don't you go first?" I said, nodding towards Lucy. He looked nervous but nodded and walked over to Lucy's chair.
"Lucy, from the first time I saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. You were so kind, so sweet, so protective over your children. Every new thing I learned about you just made me more sure that you were the one for me. And you were so open with me about everything in your life. Your divorce, your ex-husband, your children, your hobbies, your wants and your dreams. And while I was open with you about most things, there's something very important I hid from you. I'm sorry that I did, but it's not something that most people willingly accept," he began. He looked up to me and I nodded to him in support. "But after watching Maddie with my boys, I have hope that you might be willing to look beyond what most people fear and hate and give me a chance." He took a deep breath. "You see, Lucy, there is another world beyond this one. It's hidden from humans because there are so few of us. Lucy, I'm a vampire," he said, and stepped back, waiting for her ire.I heard Sammy let out a loud "Ack!," but I held onto him and made him sit still.
Minutes went by with no chance in Mom's expression. "Lucy?" Max asked.
"Mom?" I asked softly.
She looked up at me. "Yes, dear?"
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I...Am I dreaming or did Max say he was a vampire?"
"Yes, Mom, it's what he said. Are you okay with that?" I asked.
"Well, it's rather odd, don't you think?" she asked.
I smiled. "Well, no, I don't really think so. The boys are as well," I said.
"Oh. They are? That's nice dear," she said quietly with a sweet smile. I was a little worried, so took matters into my own hands and began to explain.
"Mom, what Max isn't explaining very well is that he believes that you are his mate. A vampire has only one in their entire long life. One person, made only for them. They are very rare, a treasure beyond all others, a joining of two souls. He recognized it in you the first night you met, remember, when you took Terry into the store looking for his mother?" Lucy nodded, her eyes wide. I turned to Michael. "And Michael, Star is your mate. The pull was so strong that you felt it even as a human and she only half-turned. That's why you couldn't resist the pull from that very first night, why you felt so compelled to stop her from going anywhere with David. She felt it too," I explained.
They turned to each other and smiled happily, embracing and snuggling together onto the couch. "Michael," I said softly. He turned back to me. "I have some good news and some bad news," I said. He tensed up as did Star in his arms. I looked to Max and he nodded. "The good news is that there is a way to break the vampirism without Max having to die." Michael and Star smiled at each other and kissed. I heard David pretend gag and automatically reached over and smacked his shoulder lightly.
I then continued, "The bad news is that if you are no longer vampire, you're no longer connected. The mate link would break. You could end up despising each other. And there's no going back if the link is broken. Becoming a vampire again won't mend it. Max is willing to release you both, but there is no guarantee you will still be together afterwards. So you have to choose: Stay what you are and love each other unconditionally until the end of time. Yes, you will have to feed, but it can be donated blood or you can kill the dregs of society like I plan on doing. God knows there's enough of them in places like Santa Carla that prey on the young runaways and others. Or Max can release you and you can take the chance of losing everything you love about each other.
"What about Laddie?" Star asked. I smiled and kissed my little man's head. "I would never turn him against his will or do anything he didn't want. So let's ask him. Laddie, baby?" I said, and he looked up at me from where he'd been reading one of Sam's comic books. "Laddie, if you had a choice, where would you like to live? Here with Miss Lucy, Michael and Star? Or back at the cave with Me, Dwayne, David, Paul and Marko?"
His nose scrunched up in deep thought and he gave it a lot of thought. "Will you still cook for me sometimes?" he asked. I laughed and kissed the top of his head. "Of course. And I'm sure Miss Lucy would love to cook for a little boy like you sometimes, too."
"I'd like to stay with you, Momma, and Daddy Dwayne," he said and I felt my heart fill with love and my eyes fill with tears. I wrapped my arms around my child and hugged him tight. I laughed at the thoughts running through my head that even though I wasn't able to have children my last go-round and that I'd chosen vampirism this time which meant no children again, I had a child anyways that held a piece of my heart. "Well then, that's settled," I said. "You'll stay where you want to stay."
I sat and faced Sam, who'd been quiet the entire time and was looking rather alarmed by everything that was going on. "Sammy?"
He looked up at me and fear was in his eyes. "The same goes for you, baby brother. You can stay with Grandpa, Mom, Max, Michael and Star, or you're welcome with me and the boys," I said.
"Yeah, come party with us, little bro!" Paul said, making me smile.
Sammy's face went white. "What is it, Sam?" I asked.
"They're gonna turn me, aren't they? Gonna force me to be a vampire?" he whispered.
"Absolutely not! Sammy, you will only be changed if you want to change, and even then, not until you're 18 or older. I would have Max release Laddie, but I don't want to mess up the chance that he might possibly meet his mate. Sammy there is something very important we do have to talk about, though. The Frog brothers."
"Those two? They're good friends, but not very good vampire hunters," he said.
I smiled. "No, but they try hard, and that's the worry. Think about what you might do if you were desperate to prove that you could destroy a vampire?" I said.
He thought for a moment and his face went from a grin to a terrified look. He jerked his face up to mine. "Not good," he said.
"Very not good," I agreed. "They could accidentally stake a human, or kill someone by accident, or they could stake a half-vampire or vampire that was your friend or relative. Do you want that, Sammy?" I asked quietly.
"No!" he cried and curled up against me. As I always had, I rubbed his back until the tears went away.
"What can we do to make them back down?" Max asked.
"I'm of two minds," I said. "And both of them come with the fear that they will take things into their own hands and try to eliminate what they see as 'The Vampire Problem.' My thoughts are: A.) Show up en masse and terrify them," there was an explosion of hoots and applause from Paul and Marko," or B.) going to deal with them in a friendly manner and explaining things to them. But either way, I'm afraid of what damage they could do to us during the daytime when we're unprotected." Max, Lucy, David and Dwayne nodded.
"I think our best bet would be to talk to them. Explain to them that we have decided to keep our kills to the dregs and base of society. Murderers, rapists, pedophiles, Surf Nazis, gang members," Max said and I nodded. "I believe that may be our best bet as well. Boys, I know in the past you've enjoyed hunting wherever you find prey, but I think our safety, the safety of our family, the safety of your mate, depends on this."
"For our mate, we would do anything," Dwayne said and the boys nodded, each of them touching me with some part of their body."
"Our mate?" Lucy asked, and she, Michael and Sam all looked up at me for a moment.
"Oh. Uh, I thought I explained that." I said, blushing.
"You most certainly did not. You said one mate for each vampire," Lucy said.
"Well..apparently it rarely happens, but once in a great while, an entire pack will feel the mate pull to one single person. The same night that Max met you, Mom, the boys met me and they were instantly pulled to me." I blushed and smiled and as Mom watched, the boys all turned to me, their looks adoring and protective.
"Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you! And for all of you boys as well, that's so sweet!" she exclaimed.
Laddie yawned, catching my attention. "Well, I think we need to go home now, Mom, and that you and Max have some things to discuss, as do Michael and Star. Sam, you're welcome to come with us, if you'd like. There's plenty of room back at the cave, you can share a room in the lobby with Laddie, there's plenty of light, you'd have nothing to worry about," I said.
He looked at us consideringly before shaking his head. "No, I think I'd rather sleep in my own bed," he said and I nodded. "I understand," I said and kissed the top of his head. I handed Laddie over to Dwayne and looked to David. "I'm going to go up to my room and gather some of my things, if that's alright?" I asked.
He nodded. "Paul, Marko, go with our mate and help her," he said and they nodded in agreement. I stood and they escorted me upstairs. I pulled out an old hard body suitcase and packed it carefully with some of my favorite clothes, my jewelry and makeup and my bottle of Beautiful perfume. My toothbrush, toothpaste, and shampoo went into the suitcase as well. The boys were wandering around the room staring at the pictures I had drawn or painted, as well as my stereo and music collection.
"We're going to have to borrow a car to bring the rest of this to the cave. I bet Grandpa would let me borrow his," I said, tossing a few of my favorite books into a backpack, along with some notebooks, pens, and my secondary art pad and pencils. I unpinned a few of my favorite pictures and took a framed photograph of Lucy, Michael and myself and put it carefully between layers of clothing in the suitcase. I closed and latched the lid and handed it to Paul. "Go tie that carefully to your bike, please, love?" he grinned and kissed me deeply, yanking me against him, before nodding and taking the suitcase and heading downstairs with it.
Marko just grinned. "What?" I asked, blushing. He sauntered over and wrapped his arms around me, that beautiful, mischievous grin in place. He grabbed my ass with both hands and pulled me to him, kissing me deeply and didn't stop until I was panting for air.
I smiled and shooed him out of the room and stood there for a moment, looking over the room where everything had begun in this new life. The pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves. Everything that had once been my "normal". A clearing of someone's throat had me turning and I found all four of my boys in the doorway, Dwayne, my sweet, silent warrior standing tall behind David, our alpha, who leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed over his black-clad chest. Paul leaning against the other side of the doorway, a joint clearly visible in his breast pocket, but looking at me with a love clearly in his eyes. My sweet, fun-natured Marko standing in front of Paul, biting his fingernail and looking at me as though I was a treasure beyond all measure. My loves. My mates.
They were alive, they were safe, and we were going to keep it that way. The very next night, I hunted for the first time and truly became a member of the pack and mate to my loves. We made love all that night and there was no way it could have gone any better.
That summer, we crafted a treaty of sorts with the Frog brothers. We helped them keep the city clean of any other vampires, and in return, they didn't stake us. Santa Carla went from the Murder Capital of the world to one of the cleanest cities, as we got rid of the rapists, murderers, and pedophiles. Max made an arrangement with a friend at a local hospital and we soon had a backup of blood donations in case of an emergency.
That fall, Max finally asked Lucy to marry him. She said yes, of course. They have plans to turn her after the honeymoon. Star and Michael are as in love as ever, it's so funny to watch them be so lovey-dovey at times, until they start teasing me about my mates. Laddie lives part time between the two groups of us, he's even got his own little bedroom back at the cave now, across the hall from the room I share with the boys. He has yet to decide what he wants, but he has lots of time to grow up and decide later.
Sammy started high school and surprisingly met another huge comic book fan. His name is Brandon and he's sweet. He also has a Batman #14. It was love at first trade. Grandpa was the truly unexpected party. At the end of the summer, he moved in with the widow Johnson after a great deal of mumbling about "all the damn vampires." It turns out, he knew all along. Grandpa and the widow lived a long, full life together.
At the end of the summer, my boys presented me with a ring: pink, white, and yellow gold, and a band of platinum, braided together around a single teardrop shaped ruby. Of course, I said yes. Mom and I are shopping for a dress and Max will perform the ancient ceremony. I could not be any happier. I sometimes stop and think about my life before. I miss my family and my nieces and cousins sometimes. I always will, I think. But I know they would be happy for me, to have my boys in my life. My Lost Boys.