Vamps Behaving Badly

Marko and Star entered the cave. When their feet hit the floor and they scanned the interior of the old hotel, searching hidden corners, they didn’t see David anywhere, only Dwayne, Paul and Laddie.

“Dwayne, you seen David?” Marko asked, wondering what their leader was up to.

“Nope, not yet,” Dwayne replied, not sounding too concerned about it. He was in David’s chair again, swilling from a bottle of beer. Paul was near a fire-drum, rifling through one of his victims’ wallets and pocketing the cash while flicking ID cards and other personal effects into the flames.

“Star, Star! You’re back. Look what I got,” Laddie yelled, racing over and yanking his shirt up, proudly displaying a brand new gold ring in his left nipple. “I was gonna show you before but you left with Marko. Isn’t it cool?”

“Wow. That’s really nice, Laddie,” Star said admiringly.

“Go on, touch it,” he coaxed. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Humouring him, Star reached out and teasingly tugged on the ring. “What is it, National Piercing Day or something?”

“We went to the body art studio on the boardwalk,” Laddie divulged, pulling his shirt back down. “Show her yours, Paul.”

Making an embarrassed face, Paul pitched the empty wallet into the fire and scrunched down his tank top so she could see the silver ring through his dusky pink areola. “It was Laddie’s idea. He wanted to celebrate becoming a man and got inspired by you talking about piercing Marko’s navel.”

“Which she did,” Marko enlightened them, lifting his shirt to show off his sexy belly adornment.

“Stellar,” Laddie approved. “Now, if we could just get Dwayne to pierce something, we’d all match.”

With a leer, Dwayne proclaimed, “I was thinking about getting a Prince Albert. What do you think, Paul?”

Paul smirked, obviously liking that idea since he’d be one on the business end of it. “I dunno. What do you think, Marko?”

Holding up a non-committal hand, Marko rebounded, “Dude, don’t ask me! I’m not gonna benefit from it. Ask Laddie. What do you think, bud?” He aimed his query at the long-haired sixteen year old who might very well be on the business end of Dwayne’s Prince Albert as well.

Grinning widely, Laddie chirped, “I think yes! Can I do it, Dwayne?”

Dwayne lifted a coal-black brow. “Yeah, like I’m gonna let YOU near my dick with a needle. You can barely tie your shoelaces.”

“I let you pierce my ear,” Laddie argued. “AND I let you fuck me. You owe me, Dwayne.”

“Excuse me? Who owes who?” Dwayne asked haughtily. “Who buys you shit? Who gives you money, kid?”

Slipping an arm around Paul’s waist, Laddie retorted, “Paul does. He bought me this shirt. He’s my sugar daddy now.”

Giving a mock-gasp, Dwayne jumped out of the chair and cried, “Traitors! Both of you!” He picked up an empty soda can from the floor and Paul and Laddie ran away cackling with laughter as he flung it at them. Across the other side of the cave, Laddie and Paul started kicking the can around, doing their own soccer commentary. Star turned to Dwayne curiously.

“Have there been any awkward moments between you guys? Y’know, from this morning’s… activities?”

“Not at all,” Dwayne contemplated, producing a joint from his jacket pocket, lighting it and taking a puff. “It really hasn’t been negative in the least. Laddie and Paul have become like, best friends. They haven’t fought once.”

“Truly?” she said, delighted. “That’s great, Dwayne.”

The Indian smiled and offered the joint to Star, who declined, and then to Marko, who had a drag or two and passed it back to him. Marko didn’t smoke cigarettes like the others did but he didn’t mind a toke on a joint every now and then. It relaxed him and Lord knew, he needed relaxing that night, being all wound up over the potential bashing he was going to get from David when he came back. The more relaxed he was, the less it was likely to hurt. As Dwayne and Marko shared the pot, they watched the impromptu can-kicking match, amazed at how well Paul and the teenager were getting along. The two of them playing together amicably was a remarkable sight. Paul booted the soda can to Laddie who launched it back at him, narrowly missing the tall blonde’s head, the aluminium cylinder bouncing off the wall behind him.

“Sorry, man,” Laddie apologised and ducked as Paul threw the object in his direction in retribution, grumbling something about how unco the adolescent was. Laddie pulled a face and fled as Paul ran after him, threatening to ram the can somewhere unnatural. The Native American strolled over to his two boyfriends and joined in with the match of can-soccer, remainder of the joint in the corner of his mouth. Paul and Dwayne weren’t overly worried about David’s imminent return because they hadn’t really done anything wrong. It’s not like they fucked Star. Yes, Laddie did but he was just a kid who wanted to lose his virginity. He didn’t do it because he wanted to snatch Star away from David. Star would likely get in trouble for that, for letting Laddie do it to her. Laddie wasn’t afraid of getting yelled at because he had not one, but two strong older dudes to take care of him. The three of them felt fairly safe and unperturbed. Star and Marko were the ones who were going to get in the shit when their boss came back, not them.

And that’s exactly what Star was thinking too. Marko came up behind her slim form and hugged her around the middle, kissing her on the cheek, his cherub-like face showing a most adult sense of worry.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he inquired. “You just seem a little distracted.”

“I’m just wondering if we’re in the eye of the cyclone,” Star responded, placing her hands over Marko’s. “You know how it’s all calm and you think everything is fine and then all of a sudden the real force of the storm hits.”

David had said the conversation wasn’t finished. She felt like she was yet to witness the full brunt of his fury. He must be holed up somewhere, working out the finer details of his plan of attack. They betrayed David. In a nutshell, that’s what they did. He wouldn’t just let her and Marko off the hook that easily.

Understanding what she was concerned about, Marko squeezed her and promised, “Regardless of what he tries to do, I’m here to defend you, Starbaby.”

“And who’s going to defend you, Marko?” She looked at him, despair in her eyes. “I’m not as strong as you guys.”

“They will.” Marko jerked his head toward the far end of the cave at the other boys. Paul had Laddie in a headlock and was giving him a noogie, rubbing his fist on the top of the teenager’s head, knotting his brown hair up into a birds nest. Dwayne was laughing.

“When we joined the pack, we all swore to protect each other, no matter what. They’ll protect me, even from David.”

“You sure about that, Marko?”

Star and Marko just about jumped out of their skins at David’s icily derisive voice behind them. They whirled around and Marko immediately stood in front of Star, guarding her. Star mentally cursed David for waiting until just the right moment to make his theatrical entry. He loved to do that, usually accompanied by a scathing one-liner or a dry laugh. He was such a drama queen. Dwayne, Paul and Laddie had ceased their game upon hearing David’s arrival. He’d caught Marko red-handedly hugging Star. The others were staring at their superior with a mixture of anticipation and thinly-veiled dread, wondering how much vampire blood was going to be shed that night. They were mighty glad they weren’t going to be a part of the fight. Until his next words.

“Boys, get over here,” David ordered, snapping his fingers. “Form a line. NOW.”

Hearing the commanding tone in his speech, the boys obeyed, meekly lining up next to Star and Marko. Dwayne and Paul stood either side of Laddie, like lions defending their cub. Walking along the line-up, David stopped and stared at each of them in turn and all of the lesser immortals eventually averted their eyes, feeling sure he could read their minds and see the things they did and hear the things they said during their morning of drugged craziness. They were most frightened about the repercussions of the things they said about David. Dissing one’s leader was probably not the wisest thing to do but when one was floating on Fantasia, one was not exactly shrewd about what came out of one’s mouth. Or went into it.

David had a cigarette tucked behind his ear. His hair was still in the platinum pseudo-Mohawk. When he got to the Indian, he saw that Dwayne still had the stub of the joint in his hand and plucked it out of his fingers, brought it up to his mouth and drew long and hard on it, cheeks sucking in, the cherry glowing orange. He raked his ice-blue gaze along the pale faces of his brethren, exhaling a cloud of hemp-tainted smoke their way.

Speaking to them all, he said accusingly, “I know what you did.”

The boys glanced uneasily at each other. David narrowed his eyes at Star, who lowered her gaze to the ground and instinctively moved closer to the golden-haired male that she was in love with.

“How do I know? I’m your sire. My blood is in your veins. I know what you think. I know what you do. ALL of you,” David said with the uncompromising intonation of a judge sentencing them to death.

Under his breath, Laddie muttered, “Told you so.”

Ignoring the younger boy, David commented, “I know you took drugs, Star.”

Her head came up at the bombshell. How could he possibly know that? It’d be well out of her system by now. He couldn’t smell one little pill on her. Could he?

“And I know you gave them to her, Marko,” David accused him. “I also know you fucked her.”

Marko gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing under the skin of his throat. Oh crap, he thought in foreboding. He’s a dead man. He may as well bare his chest and wait for the stake to plunge in. He took Star’s trembling hand in his, thinking that if he was going to die, screaming and fizzing vamp-slime all over the place, he wanted her touch to be the last pleasant thing he remembered.

“You too Laddie,” the ringleader shot at the boy who was shrinking into Dwayne’s side as if the Native American was a shield. David glowered at his understudy and Paul, flicking the spent joint onto the dirt floor near their feet, sparks hitting their boots.

“You all had your sticky hands on her, didn’t you? Look what happens when I leave Dwayne in charge. You’re quite the instigator, Chief. Leading my boys astray while I’m not here.” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly at his lawless and dissident tribe.

“You’ve all been very, VERY bad vampires.”

Nobody was game to deny it. Shit, it was true. They were all speculating about what the hell was going to happen to them now. Instead of distributing some blindfolds for their impending executions, David smiled and gave them a round of applause.

“Well done,” he praised them, standing there with his legs apart slightly, appearing very pleased. He gave them a shallow bow. “Your little experiment was a success.”

The whole group was flummoxed and baffled. They shifted and scratched their heads, minds boggling, trying to comprehend what he meant by that enigmatic announcement and wondering why they weren’t dead yet. Laddie timidly raised a hand. David gestured for him to speak.

“Um, excuse me, David,” the sixteen year old began politely, not wanting the scary fanged David to show his face, “but what exactly are you talking about?”

“You, my dear Laddie, were just one of the rats in my maze,” David elucidated, patting his smooth cheek. “You all did exactly as I expected. Especially you, Star.” He focused back on the only girl gang member. Her eyes were large and confused.

“Why do you think I left you alone with them? Why do you think I got some drug dealer to sell Marko those pills?” At Marko’s bemused look, David tapped the side of his own temple with his forefinger. “I knew – KNEW - that if you were all high and left unsupervised, the truth would come out. You’ve all been wanting to do this,” he concluded matter-of-factly.

“So, I let you.”

The confounded gang was still slotting the pieces of the puzzle together. David answered some more of their unasked questions.

“Wonder where I’ve been, Star?” He didn’t wait for her reply. “I just went and watched a movie.” He reached into his jacket pocket and brandished a VHS tape, making sure they could all see it. “Ever heard of a video camera? I set one up in here last night. Right next to your bed.”

Star gasped and met Marko’s stunned eyes. David carried on, like the bad guy in the movie explaining his elaborate diabolical plot to take over the world.

“It’s easy. Insert a four hour tape. Set the timer. Hide it. Bam.” He smacked the tape in his palm. “Four hours. That’s a lot of footage to go through. Course I had to fast forward most of it to get to the juicy bits. Hot stuff. Really hot stuff,” he highlighted with a smirk. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little wood. You guys are bigger sluts than I thought. It’s a miracle any of you are even walking tonight.”

As an afterthought he said, “Oh, and Laddie – congratulations.” He winked at the cherry-less teenager.

Finally, the gang got it. David spied on them. He recorded them. He saw and heard everything. All the excruciating details. The horror and dread they felt was overwhelming. Star wasn’t the only one who felt faint. David chuckled at their aghast expressions.

“What, a vampire can’t use modern technology to keep tabs on his pack? I can’t sit down and make conversation over dinner with Max and his family and psychically envision what you guys are doing at the same time. I may be powerful but I’m not that powerful.”

“Waitta minute, you set this whole thing up?” Paul was the only one with the balls to say. David glanced at him and made an affirmative noise.

“I just wanted to know how far you were willing to go. And what you all really thought of me. Y’know, after watching this tape, I’ve been thinking,” David said ponderingly rubbing his bearded chin, walking in front of his lined-up subversive entourage, gazing into the distance. His leather jacket creaked as he moved.

“The whole harsh, uncompromising, stern head vampire role isn’t that rewarding. You all think I’m an ogre. You’re all intimidated by me. You said so on the tape. While that was what I previously expected of you, I’ve changed my mind. Seeing how strict Max is with his girls and how he rules their every move made me realise I was inadvertently turning out just like him. I was acting like your father. And I don’t want that. Unlike Max, I don’t care if you misbehave. Hell, I misbehave all the time. Being good is for humans.”

He faced them again. “What are we, Laddie?”

“Uh…vampires?” Laddie guessed.

“Exactly. We’re fucking vampires, for Christ’s sakes! We’re supposed to be evil. We’re supposed to be insatiable and gluttonous and immoral and depraved. That’s our very nature. And I was holding you back. See?” He waved the recorded proof at them.

“The minute I leave you alone, you all go nuts. But you shouldn’t have to wait till I’m out of the picture before doing that. You should be able to do that whenever you damn well want. From this moment on, you can.”

David tossed the incriminating tape into the flames of the closest oil drum, the black plastic sizzling with the heat. He stood in front of the love-stuck couple holding hands and clasped their opposite shoulders. “Star, my pet, I’m officially cutting the chain. You’re free. Marko, she’s all yours. Take good care of her.”

“So…you’re not mad at us?” Marko asked tentatively.

“Oh, I AM mad,” David reprimanded. “You got wasted and had a gangbang. And you didn’t invite me. That hurts.” The white-blond leader put his hand over his heart, doing his best injured impression. Then he laughed and slapped Marko jovially on the back.

“Next time you wanna do this, boys - and Star – go ahead. You never know, I might even join you.” He clapped his hands together, signalling the end of the discussion, and grinned.

“Now, who’s up for Chinese?”


END