CRASH AND BURN
Disclaimer: Characters from The Lost Boys belong to WB Studios. The others are mine, please do not use them without permission.
Dedication: To Christyl for always being there to talk to and for offering sage advice when I need it. To baby Jacob for being so darn adorable that I had to add him to the dedication. To Keya who inspires me to finish Anna's stories, no matter how difficult certain parts are. To the MarkReaper in hopes that she'll be inspired to write more of her Dante series. And to my Jake, who will be so proud that I finished this story.
Just as vampires need time apart, need months, years
even to re-find themselves, need miles and miles of
separation from their normal acquaintances to really
free their hearts and minds to return to their
previous form, these same vampires are inexplicably
drawn back together when the time is right.
True, across the time and space between them things
can happen. Sunlight can rear its ugly head and take
out one or two, an over-zealous vampire hunter can try
his hand at the immortals and for once end up lucky,
but if life, or rather undeath, is still theirs, the
vampires will come when the call sounds.
Often no one realizes the call has even been made
until they are reunited, returned to a place dripping
with history and memories, a place that welcomes none
of their kind but them. Vampires do not only mark
each other, building bonds with other vampires to
strengthen themselves, but with the very Earth itself,
claiming it as their own. And the Earth cradles the
vampires to her warm surface, cooling their fevered
actions with her dark night, calling them her
children.
And so it goes.
When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Anna had not faired well over the past years. She,
among all the others, was too used to Pack life; it
had been all she had ever known. The others, while
accustomed to having the support of the rest of the
vampires, had also experienced time alone. Not so
with Anna. She had spent nary a night away from her
family.
Life alone did not suit her at all. She prayed,
actually lifted her voice towards a higher power that
she didn't truly believe in, and even if it did
exists, probably wouldn't listen to one such as
herself, begging for their period of separation to
end, for the time to come when she could be with hers
once more.
When she found herself on the outskirts of Santa
Carla, heading into the one place that had been home
to her, the one place that had ever been home to her,
she realized her prayers had been answered. Some
higher power, whether god, or mother earth, had
brought her back to where she belonged.
And so it goes.
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you
can't take anymore
Santa Carla teamed with people at night. They
hurried around, calling out to each other, both
friendly greetings and piercing cat calls which could
very well lead to forays into violence later in the
evening.
None noticed the heavy gaze following various people
around.
Paul preferred it that way. He ignored their wild
movements and actions, concentrating instead on the
steady gush of blood through their veins. If he
focused hard enough, he could pick out each individual
pulse, then track it to the owner.
Tonight though he didn’t have the time or the
inclination to attempt to follow any pulses, much less
pick out a particular one to hunt. His mind was less
than halfway on the sound of blood surrounding him,
the greater part centered on the soft tugging at the
back of his thoughts.
The call had brought him here, but he had found none
of the others. So he waited. And now. . .now he
could hear them again, a low thrumming, barely
audible, but still there, strong and unwavering.
Finally he would be reunited with his family. Finally
they would all be together.
The separation had been nice. He’d enjoyed fooling
around with a wilder style of life than the Pack ever
offered, making friends. . .and enemies by the dozen.
His victims came by the dozens as well, and many a
town still hadn’t solved the rash of murders that
swept after him wherever he went.
But enough was enough. That life could only be
upheld for so long before he was ready to return to
the safety and relative peace of his Pack.
Paul rose with a fluid moment, startling those around
him, for they hadn’t noticed his presence until he
moved. His laughter rang back to them, prickling
their senses and warning them of what was to come.
For over forty years now Santa Carla had known peace.
No longer was it the “Murder Capital of the World.”
The residents, excepting a few knowledgeable
outsiders, had all but forgotten about the group of
hoodlums who rode bikes and disturbed the quietness of
their town. This lack of recognization would not last
for long, and would be punished greatly by the newly
reunited vampire pack.
They had to reclaim their territory, remind the
mortal gangs that their powers and their turf wars
meant nothing to the creatures of the night who could
and would wipe the humans out in a single night.
And so it goes.
Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone
And Star wasn’t alone; hadn’t been alone for this
entire time. Laddie had remained with her, a sweet
child, though his youth lasted for eternity. They had
moved around a lot to disguise his lack of aging. It
had bothered her to not be able to settle down in one
area and play human, as their plan had been, but it
hadn’t bothered her enough to send him away so she
could play house.
And of course, her precious Michael had been there,
teasing her when she missed the others so much she
wasn’t sure if she could go on, tempting her with his
heated caresses and sweet words of need, soothing her
nightmares away.
How she loved him.
And loved being alone with him like this. Though she
did miss the others, and did want to see them all,
compare notes, hear how their time apart had been,
Star wasn’t sure if she was quite ready to give up the
freedom she’d had.
She knew she wasn’t ready to give up the life she had
built with Michael and Laddie.
She didn’t have a choice. The call sounded, and they
had to answer it. The other two, especially Laddie,
seemed eager, rushing on with the drive each night.
The closer they got to California, the more excited
both males became, until they were jabbering on and on
about what fun it would be to be with the guys again.
Star rested her head back against the cushioned seat
and sighed deeply. The car they had originally
started this adventure in was long gone, but she would
have given up the elegance and industrial advances
this car held in a moment just so she could be
beginning an adventure alone with her Michael, not
ending it.
Star allowed herself to mope and muse for the first
half of their last night on the road, but forced her
thoughts away from their melancholy stage when they
entered the last few hours of the trip. She had no
choice here, could do nothing by whining or allowing
herself to be sad, so she wouldn’t be.
The pack. . .her pack was coming together again, and
she would be happy about this, would welcome the
others back into her life, no matter what the cost to
herself.
Besides.
They would take another break from life together
eventually. They had to. It was tradition. It was
what vampires did; form a group, live together, end
the group, live apart, return together. The cycle
would happen again, of this she was sure. But for now
they were entering their beloved Santa Carla. They
were home.
And so it goes.
When you feel all alone
And a loyal friend is hard to find
You're caught in a one-way street
With the monsters in your head
When hopes and dreams are far away and
You feel like you can't face the day
Dwayne didn’t often feel like he couldn’t face the
day. Despite the lack of leadership that he showed
while with the other vampires, his silence hid a
deep-set emotional strength that always seemed to
carry him through the rough times.
These past few days, the last few before the Pack
would be reunited, had been hell itself. For most of
their time apart he hadn’t allowed himself to think of
the others, especially his lovely Anna. But the
moment the first echoes of the call had sounded, his
thoughts had been turned to the others, to her,
exclusively.
This explained the pain dominating his emotions. But
now. . .now he was back in Santa Carla, now he could
feel them approaching, drawing ever near. He glanced
around the empty cliff, the first to arrive at the
oh-so-sacred spot.
Already tendrils of fog twisted about his black-clad
legs, hiding him from sight from the waist down. The
white smoke would rise higher, until he, and all the
others, were enveloped with it from toe to head, and
even higher, for the fog was the cave’s way of
welcoming them home again.
And finally they would be home again. Finally he
would get to touch his beloved, see her sparkling
eyes, hear Paul’s evil comments, that were funny no
mater how inappropriate, see tiny Laddie and his
enthusiasm for the world. His family would finally be
reunited.
Dwayne knelt, pressing both hands to the harsh soil.
Very little grew up here, and he had always thought
that the very ground itself showed the presence of the
vampires. A mortal might have said it was tainted. .
.he thought it was more territory marking than
tainting.
The ground trembled under his fingers.
They were coming home.
The very Earth itself recognized the call and
welcomed the vampires back into her womb.
And so it goes.
Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone
David broke the rules.
Of course, breaking the rules was a part of his
day-to-day life, but he had broken numerous rules this
time. If his Pack learned the truth, they might very
well lash out at him, driving him away, for it had
been he who had suggested the very same rules that he
had broken.
Then again, perhaps they would find it amusing, laugh
with him, not caring about anything in the thrill of
being reunited. That would be the ideal situation.
It didn’t matter, not in the end, how they would react
though. He didn’t plan on ever telling them.
David hadn’t left Santa Carla.
Oh, he’d hunted elsewhere. Continued stories of
inexplicable murders in the sea-side town would have
caught the attention of his vampires, brought them
back immediately, furious with his lack of respect for
vampire code.
But beyond a few nights a week out on the prowl in
San Francisco, David hadn’t left Santa Carla. He had
secluded himself deep inside the cave, in the far
reaches that not even Dwayne, Marko, or Paul knew
about, and spent his time catching up.
Catching up on what, exactly?
Why, on his thoughts, of course. On vampire lore.
On the world, past and present.
You might even say that David. . .well. . .he
brooded.
It had never been done.
But David most definitely brooded.
Oh, not for forty years. That wasn’t possible,
though the illustrious Dwayne might have been able to
pull it off. David certainly couldn’t. He had other
activities to attend to. There was the hunt, after
all. And reading up on all the vampire stories
contained on the brittle pages of the books in the
library they had inherited from Max. It was all that
the vampire had left for them by way of a legacy;
boxes of crumbling books.
But these books held something far more important
than any vampire fairy tale. . .or perhaps the fairy
tale was the important part. For as David locked
himself away from the world for nights on end, his
vast knowledge grew.
David had finally learned the one thing that would
ensure his leadership of the Pack forever; the one
thing that would keep them safe for all time. The
process was risky, complicated. . .and perhaps only a
dream, some story to tell around the campfire at
night. It didn’t matter.
All that mattered now was that his vampires, his Pack
had returned to him. He would hide his stay in Santa
Carla very well indeed, so well that they wouldn’t
guess he even had a secret. In time he would open up
to them, let the others share in this awe-inspiring
story.
David had found the secret to true immortality.
And for now he packed it away in a locked wooden box,
slamming the lid shut and sending up a blast of dust.
The power contained there was mind-boggling, might not
even be worth the effort in the end.
Besides.
He had a group of vampires to reunite.
And so it goes.
Because there has always been heartache and pain
And when it's over you'll breathe again
You'll breathe again
“Dwayne?” David’s voice rang out and he was suddenly
there, appearing on the top of the cliff as if he’d
been right below all the time. Dwayne whirled around,
eyes blazing red with surprise. It really was David
approaching him, arms opening at the last second.
The embrace was gentle, a brief brush of arms, chest
to chest. Nothing more, not from David. That would
be too much like showing weakness, and Dwayne
understood all too well that David could never
approach something like that. It was just something
you had to accept with him.
“How are you?” Dwayne stepped back, his lips quirking
up just a bit as he spoke. David’s presence was
strong in the area, as if he’d never been gone. It
was nice to be welcomed so warmly by the very land
itself, he decided.
“Good, good, and you?”
“Ready for this exile to be over,” Dwayne admitted
with a low sigh. “Forty years is too long, David.”
“You know I don’t choose the time,” he replied. “It
just. . .happens. When it’s time to come home. . .”
“You just know,” Paul interrupted.
Paul and David’s hug was much like Dwayne and David’s
had been, but when the energetic vampire turned to his
quiet friend, their embrace was fraught with emotion.
Any lingering tension caused by Anna’s actions had
been washed away in the years that stretched between
then and now, a stream of years as long as the
seemingly unending ocean.
“Welcome back, man,” Paul laughed, circling Dwayne
and David easily. They let him, not bothering an
attempt at calming him. It would do no good; besides,
his brash energy was a welcome change to the quietness
the rest of the world offered.
“Life treated you well then?” Dwayne asked almost
eagerly. He glanced down the faint motorcycle trail,
wondering just how Anna planned on arriving. She
couldn’t show up a moment too soon for his tastes, but
he knew that she would be there in her own time. Anna
didn’t hurry for anyone.
*~*~*~*~*~
Anna hurried through the dark sky, flying mere inches
above the tops of the trees that rushed by. She was
in too much of a hurry to climb that extra few feet
into clear air; it would waste precious seconds,
moments that she could spend with her family.
She landed just inside the edge of the forest, taking
a moment to smooth her wild hair, though it took both
hands to try to tame the teeming mass, and the effort
was mostly futile. Her gaze swept forward as she did
so, and the three vampires filled her site.
Anna remained where she was, drinking in the view.
It had been so long, too long in her harsh opinion,
but the rush that seeing them brought her was almost
worth the years of loneliness. No wonder vampire
packs split up if this was the end result.
Waves of loyalty washed over her, loyalty to herself,
loyalty to her family, loyalty to her leader. The
emotions she’d gone without for so long slammed back,
filling her until she feared she would burst. No
movement was possible under the deluge of thoughts and
needs and wants and desires.
While Anna remained frozen, overwhelmed by her
feelings, a car meandered up the once well-kept path
to the top of the cliff. It stopped and Laddie
launched himself out of the vehicle before the engine
had stopped, flinging himself at Dwayne’s legs.
Dwayne teetered for a moment but managed to stay on
his feet. He bent over and wrapped his arms around
the tiny vampire.
The reunion was going better than he had anticipated.
Now if only Anna would show up, grace them with her
presence.
The first twinge of worry twisted his stomach. Where
was she? And for that matter, where was Marco? He
normally would have been one of the first to arrive,
so excited by the reunion that he could stay away no
longer. Dwayne straightened up and tilted his head
back to gaze at the starless sky, eyes dark with his
sudden fears.
“Welcome home, Star,” David murmured, touching her
hair gently. Star’s lips parted in surprise, but she
found nothing to say and merely nodded at him. Her
shock multiplied tenfold when David held out his hand
to Michael so they could shake in greeting.
Michael kept his reactions in check, though he too
was surprised by the new developments. Apparently
David’s fierce attitude had relaxed in the years that
had passed. . .either that, or he finally had become
insane.
“Where’s Anna?” Laddie chirped, glancing around the
small group. His eyes settled on Dwayne as he waited
for an answer. Dwayne could only shrug and look up to
the sky again, waiting to see her form appear.
“I’m here.”
Dwayne’s head jerked around when Anna spoke. His
gaze fell upon her just in time to watch her step
forward out of the trees, hair sparkling in the pale
light. She walked towards the group slowly, not
hurrying, though it took all her hard-earned control
to keep herself from racing towards them and tackling
every last one in a giant bear hug.
“You made it,” Dwayne said quietly as she drew
closer. Anna’s lips twitched, but the smile didn’t
break free as it threatened to.
“Of course I did. You expected me not to?”
“No.” His answer was simple, but resonated with so
many other things, so many emotions that he simply
could not express. Anna finally allowed herself to
look at him, and it was then that she finally
relinquished her control. She was in his arms a
moment later, face against his shoulder, arms tight
around his waist.
The hug went on forever, and though it remained
chaste, heat waves could almost be seen rising from
their bodies. It was Dwayne who drew back first,
letting his hands slide up until he could capture
Anna’s, twining their fingers together. She smiled at
him, finally, finally smiled at him, and then turned
to the others, the expression never fading. If
anything, it grew brighter.
“Welcome home, girl,” Paul clapped her on the
shoulder after only a moment’s hesitation, a greeting
that was less than what either wanted, but sufficient
for their first time back together. After their
previous actions, and the many years separation,
boundaries were down and had to be redrawn.
“Thanks.” She grinned at him openly, not worried
about what Dwayne would think, because there was
nothing for him to think, nothing for him to be
worried about. Paul returned the smile, but stepped
back, giving the others room to say their hellos.
“Where’s Marco?” Anna asked once the formalities were
completed. Dwayne shrugged, for she had echoed his
own thoughts, and he too looked to the others for an
answer.
“He should be here.” If anyone expected reassurance
from David, it was obviously not going to happen. His
light brows where twisted into a deep frown and he
glanced down at his wrist as if to check the time,
though no watch rested against his skin.
“Of course he should be here,” Anna remarked. “But
he’s obviously not. The questions is, why not?”
Paul, Dwayne, and David exchanged glances. They, out
of all the others, had been vampires longest, knew the
most about vampire policy. None wanted to explain to
Anna why a vampire wouldn’t answer the call. The
thought of her agony at their words was almost too
much to bear, as was the thought that something might
have happened to their friend.
“It means he’s dead,” Laddie spoke up, his voice
shaking roughly. Anna whirled around to face him,
releasing Dwayne’s hands as she did so. The tiny
vampire stepped forward and wrapped his arms around
her waist, pressing his face into her side.
“What did you say?” she forced the words out,
touching the top of his head lightly to get his
attention.
“He’s dead. The only way a vampire won’t answer the
call is if they are incapable of it, either severely
injured, and even that won’t necessarily stop them, or
dead,” David relieved Laddie of the duty of answering her
question.
Anna winced, hands dropping to Laddie’s shoulders and
squeezing gently as she tried to deny David’s words.
“No, no, no,” she whispered, shaking her head
frantically. “He’s not dead. We would have. . .felt
it. . .or something. . .right?” Her eyes widened as
she silently pleaded for someone to affirm her words.
In spite of the brightness of tears in their blue
depths, no one could give her the assurance she
wanted.
“We’ll find out how he died, who did it. . .and they
will suffer,” David promised his distraught vampires.
Before any one of them could offer a suggestion, or
even cry out their pain, a large object hurtled out of
the sky and landed with a sickening thud in the center
of their misshapen circle.
“What the hell?” Paul muttered, kneeling next to the
lumpy form. He touched it softly, and it rolled, a
low groan vibrating its throat during the move. Paul
strangled and flung himself away from it, one hand
clamped to his mouth.
“It’s Marco,” he gasped when he could speak again.
The flurry of activity that followed his announcement
was a sight to behold. David, Dwayne, Anna, and Paul
surrounded their fallen friend, checking his injuries,
trying to ease his discomfort. Despite their best
efforts, it was obvious he was dying even as they
watched.
“Fuck,” Anna muttered, placing both hands against
Marco’s head. The heat there was amazing, especially
considering vampires didn’t get fevers, or even many
known illnesses. “What can we do to help him?”
“Nothing,” David’s voice echoed his sadness. “Except
put him to sleep-”
“We can’t just kill him!” Anna snapped. “There has
to be something we can do.” She was on her feet in an
instant, ready to attack anyone who dared try to put
the vampire out of his misery, fully believing in the
healing power of her Pack.
“Not kill him,” Dwayne touched her arm gently,
directing her back to the ground. “Put him to sleep.
A forced sleep, a rest for his body you could call it.
Given time he might heal the damage himself.”
“Oh,” Anna whispered, then glanced up at Dwayne, eyes
dark with worry. “What if he can’t?”
“Then he’ll die,” Dwayne stroked her cheek lightly,
his own sadness at Marco’s condition multiplied by the
agony filling Anna’s eyes. She pressed into his touch
a moment, needing the reminder that they were still
healthy, but turned away when David spoke.
“He might not die,” David’s face was as enigmatic as
his tone, but he refused to tell them anything further
until Marco was taken care of. All the vampires,
including Laddie, Star, and Michael, pressed their
hands lightly to his body then, trying their best not
to cause him any more pain than they had to, and the
ritual for forced rest began.
When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
To tame your wild wild heart
“What do you mean he might not die?” Dwayne was the
first to speak after Marco had been set on one of the
beds still residing in the main room. His body was
covered in salve and wrapped in bandages to try to
help the healing process, but none of the vampires
held much hope for their effectiveness.
David said nothing, merely motioned for them to
follow him back into the dark recesses of the cave.
And follow him they did, deeper and deeper under the
earth, through tunnels and past rooms that none of
them had even heard mention of, much less put to use.
The room David finally entered was as dark and silent
as a tomb, excepting the steady trickle of water down
the far wall. He moved to one side of the room, a
match flared in his hands, and suddenly candles lit,
the flame jumping from one to the next in a manner
that couldn’t quite be explained.
Rocks glistened around a small pool, the result of
the water running down the wall. Where they stood,
dry rocks circled around the damp ones, and books were
spread along a large, table-like rock. David crossed
to that rock, opened the wooden lock box, then lifted
out the parchments inside until he could remove the
book. He placed it on the dry rock and placed his
hands on it lightly, careful to not scrape it along
the rock, for its fragileness could be seen even from
a distance.
“There is a cure for Marco,” he said finally, once
the silence had grown to thick to continue.
“Well what is it?” Anna snapped when he said nothing
more. David’s head lowered and his shoulders drooped
for a moment. His eyelids fluttered closed as they
waited for an answer, then snapped open again,
revealing his cerulean eyes and the regret held there.
“We can save Marco, but to get what we need is a
dangerous task.”
“It doesn’t matter, man, it’s Marco! Come on, David,
stop holding back and let us know!” Even Paul’s
usually even-tempered voice was out of control, though
not loud, for the room would not allow an excess of
volume within its walls.
Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and flay away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
“We’ll do anything, you know that, David,” Star
reminded him quietly. “Just like Marco would if it
was one of us.”
“You don’t know that,” David argued. Was the life of
one worth the risk of the lives of the others?
Despite their desires, this was a decision he had to
make, as their leader. As their friend. Never had he
regretted his power more than now; regretted his
search for knowledge.
“Yes we do. Tell us.” David caught Dwayne’s dark
gaze, though no hostility resided with in. Only a
deep worry, and the desire to see this through, to fix
what was going wrong in their lives could be seen in
his eyes. This was supposed to be a joyous time, not
one of worry and pain.
David was the leader. Only he could decide this, no
matter what the others thought. The risk was great,
as he had said. Not all would survive this, though he
could hope for the best. Marco would surely die if
they didn’t succeed. The others might die even if
they did. The decision was made.
“I have found the secret to our true immortality,” he
whispered. All eyes were on him, each ear strained to
catch his faintest word. Still David hesitated, for
all his mind could think of were the risks. “It is
far from here, believed to be only legend. But it can
save Marco’s life. The search is dangerous; no one
has ever succeeded. . .or at least never lived to tell
about it. Do you still want to do this?”
Though no words were spoken, the room itself knew
what their answer was. Lights sparked deep within the
still water and it twisted suddenly, spewing a thin
stream up into the air. This cave had been tied to
vampires for millennia, and would help this pack as it
had so many others before it.
David slowly flipped open the book and the others
pressed close to see what they were searching for.
Their quest for the elusive immortality of their kind
had begun.
And so it goes.
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone
THE END