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It's been just two days since he drank what David gave him.
Not even a full forty eight hours and already he's feeling weak. The sunlight feels stronger and brighter than it ever has before and coming from a former resident of Arizona, that's saying something.
Every time he gets even a glimpse of sunlight he feels like his skull is about to crack. Also, he's starving but everything in the fridge turns his stomach. Not even his grandpa's beers or donuts look appealing now.
No, he's craving something else.
What David gave him.
Blood.
That's what it was. He hadn't paid attention to Star when she tried to explain to him, just shrugged her off and hugged it down desperate to impress the blonde boy for some reason. Desperate to prove that he could do it. Why? Michael asks himself now. Why had he been so eager to appeal to David, why had David's embrace afterwards made him feel like he was more alive that he'd ever felt before. Was it just a a pissing contest over Star? Trying to prove who the best man for her was... or something more?
Honestly he hadn't even thought about Star as the liquid trickled down his throat. Only how proud he was gonna make David.
David, David, David.
His presence in Michael's mind is constant, just hanging there like the early morning mist over the sea.
The other boy is all Michael can think about and it's pissing him off.
Especially as he has more urgent matter to worry about.
Like his reflection being translucent for one or the fact that his little brother knows he's a vampire now.
Or rather, not quite a vampire.
Not yet anyway.
Not until he makes his first kill, like Star had explained. She and Laddie are the same way. They haven't been turned yet, have fed yet. David's initial plan had been for Star to make Michael her first kill, she'd told him the night before in a hurried whispered voice.
Something in Michael's stomach lurched when he heard those words. Something that weirdly felt a lot like disappointment.
So David didn't initiate him because he thought he was cool or wanted him to be a fellow member of their vampire gang. He just saw him as Star's dinner. Fine, Michael thought with more than a little bitterness. If that's the way David wanted it, that's how he'd play it.
Until...
"That's not what David wants now though..." Star had trailed off.
"What do you mean?"
"I heard him talking to Marko. David wants you to feed. Wants you to make a kill now. Be one of them. He likes you, you know?"
Heat bloomed in Michael's chest.
"He's got a weird way of showing it," was all he'd gruffly replied.
"Trust me, you're lucky. The last guy who wanted to be a member of the gang that David didn't take a liking to..."
Star trailed off and Michael didn't pursue it. He could guess what happened to the guy, how he ended up.
And still something in his stomach gave him a warm feeling when he thought about Star saying David didn't want him to be just a meal now, he wanted him as one of them.
What he wondered was why.
Michael looks at the clock on his bedside table. Six thirty in the evening. He's the only one home. His mom's at work, Max is hanging out with Nanook and those annoying kids he met on the boardwalk and their grandpa said something about an all day poker game at his buddy Ted's. He's thankful for the peace.
His mind drifts again to the other boy.
To his voice, those bright blue eyes, his laugh.
The way it felt when David put his arm around him and was proud of him for drinking the blood. It had felt amazing, feeling David's approval. He wanted to bask in it like sunlight.
Though sunlight is a bad analogy right now, he thinks to himself with a sense of irony.
Moonlight, that's better. His mind drifts to the image of David down on the beach at night, mouth stained crimson after a kill, the blood looking almost black under the moonlight.
He allows himself to wonder what it would be like to feed at David's side, to taste blood from the other boy's lips.
A violent shudder courses through his body and it's clear that certain areas are having no trouble with this mental image at all.
He doesn't try to stop the next thought either. David pushing him down onto the sand, their hands all over each other, bloody kisses all over each other's naked bodies.
His stomach gives a lurch of both types of hunger now.
That's it, he thinks to himself as he tamps down the urge to pull down his pajama bottoms and work himself to completion, he needs to figure out what the fuck he's gonna do to stop himself becoming a vampire before it's too late.
He's weak and starving, the next time he might not be able to refuse a kill and he knows David's counting on that which is why he's hidden away in his room for the past two nights.
But hiding won't work forever. He's gonna need to make a choice. Get some more blood or...
Or what? Kill himself? He idly imagines trying to sacrifice himself to the sun in order to save his family.
It's something he'd do if he's being honest. He loves his mom and Sam even if the little shit does drive him crazy especially with all that Brat Pack bullshit. But he'd take a bullet for the kid in a heartbeat.
Still, the idea of burning himself alive isn't something Michael feels he can just face head on without any hesitation.
He gets up, takes a shower and dresses in his favorite outfit; black shirt, black jeans, shades and grabs his jacket, then after another failed attempt at eating some left over take out his mom left in the ice box for him, he leaves the house and starts towards the boardwalk.
He needs to talk to David, though he's not even sure what he's gonna say. Feeling torn between wanting to kiss and hit the guy at every turn hardly makes things any better.
He's so confused about all of this. He's never been attracted to guys. Well unless you count Rob Lowe, but he feels like everyone should get a pass for how pretty Rob Lowe is. In real life though, it's only ever been girls so far. He's mad at himself for feeling this way about David and not Star, who obviously has some feelings for him too.
His head is a mess when he reaches the hideout. He knows they'll all be there now, they don't go out until after dark and the sun is still hanging low ik the sky over the horizon of the Santa Carla ocean.
The sound of the waves and the smell of the sea calm him as he lights a cigarette and tries to work out what he should do next as he stands staring at the entrance to their abode.
He could try destroying David, he supposes. If he's the master vampire, the others would be weakened. But it seems like a pretty dumb idea considering it would be four strong vampires against a single weak undead one. Even if Star were to help him destroy David, he doubts that they'd be able to overpower the guys. Still, he should try shouldn't he? Go out in a heroic blaze of glory trying to do something?
The thing is though, he doesn't want to destroy David.
He just wants a solution.
Join them, a voice in his head whispers like the sound of the wind on the sea and Michael shivers.
If he joins them he'll never have to worry about any of this again. But it would also mean giving up his family. He thinks of his mom and Sam. Sam trying to explain to her and his grandpa about the vampires and no one ever believing him.
He can't do it to them. As easy as it would be for him to slink into the night and let them think he'd vanished forever, he just can't hurt them that way. Plus, he'd miss them. His mom's sweet voice, his little brother's idiotic movie trivia.
He's about to try and envision himself killing David again when the man of the hour appears in front of him seemingly from nowhere.
"Michael" he greets him, that perpetual smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
"What... How did you just appear?"
"Sensed your presence and came to see what you want."
"You don't know? You don't have telepathy?"
"That's a Hollywood cliche'. I can sense moods, I'm not a clairvoyant. So what d'ya want?" the blonde boy lights up a cigarette of his own with that perpetual smirk still hanging around his pretty mouth.
Michael's stomach churns uneasily as he notices himself focusing far too much on said mouth.
What's wrong with him?! He should be trying to destroy this guy not daydreaming about those lips on his, especially not when bloody.
"You got sick right? That's why you're here?" David has clearly grown tired of waiting for an answer.
"I thought you said you couldn't read minds."
"I can't. This doesn't take a rocket scientist, Michael. I've been there too remember. The hunger and nausea before the first feed are like that. You'll be fine once you eat."
"I can't eat! Nothing tastes any good."
"Michaël, we both know what I'm talking about. You need blood."
"No. I won't. I can't. I can't just kill like that indiscriminately."
"The world does it every day, Michael. What difference do we make?"
"Maybe none to you, but I can't do that. I can't just kill people on a moonlit walk on the beach or some random girl on the boardwalk."
"Then kill someone else," David shrugs.
"What?"
"Kill someone worthy of it. Find someone like Marko's last solo kill. Old man Amos. Had a thing for girls around twelve years old."
"I..." Michael halts. That's not a bad idea actually certainly a preferential alternative to the others, but...
" I can't. I'm not a killer."
David exclaims in frustration, "It's a little late to start whining now, Michael. You drank the blood. Even when Star told you not to, you ignored her and did it anyway. Once you drink the blood, that's it. The process can't be undone or reversed. You knew what you were doing. What I'm curious about is why. Why did you ignore Star, why were you so eager to drink what I gave you."
Michael feels both anger and embarrassment at David's question.
David's right. This is his own fault, if he hadn't been acting like a high school kid of Sam's age wanting the cool guy to notice him, this shit would never have happened.
"Why did you decide to not kill me?" Michael shoots back, a question for a question.
David laughs softly.
"Star told you that too?"
Michael doesn't deny or confirm it.
"She knew I originally intended for you to be her first kill, but then I changed my mind" David shrugs nonchalantly, as if deciding who they eat and don't is as run of the mill as flipping a coin for him.
Michael supposes it is now.
"I changed my mind about you because I thought you'd be better as one of us instead of our dinner. You fit in, we all like you, you wanted so badly to be initiated. It just made more sense."
Michael doesn't know how to respond to this.
"Plus, it can't just me that feels this right? Between us?" David gestures physically between them with his cigarette.
"What are you talking about?"
"Michael why do you fight against who you are?" the blonde sighs, sounding not unlike his mother when she's disappointed in him or Sam.
"You're attracted to me. I can feel it. The feeling's mutual by the way."
"I...you... that's not what this is about, David!"
"Sure it is. I didn't make you into our latest take-out because I like you and I think you're hot. I want you to feed alongside me, I don't wanna destroy you any more than you wanna destroy me."
"How do you know I don't?"
"If you do, you're doing a shitty job. I've been alone out here with you all this time. Also you keep trying to avoid anything that has to do with that."
Michael swallows hard. He has no idea how to respond to David. All he knows is whether or not he's never liked boys before, all he wants right now to kiss David.
So he does.
They kiss as though they're running out of time. Lips parted and tongues met, lips were bitten, sucked on. David trailing kisses down the column of Michael's throat, teeth scraping the sensitive skin there before biting down -hard enough to mark, but not hard enough to break the skin - as Michael lets out a noise he would never have believed came from him.
When David pulls back, his trademark smirk was in place again, though, Michael notes with satisfaction, his pupils were blown and his lips bruised.
"What do you really want, Michael? Bullshit aside."
"To join you," Michael admits.
"But if you refuse to feed, then how?"
"There are ways right? I'll find a way around it. If I've learned anything in the past few days, it's that anything is possible where you're involved," he grins at the other boy before pulling him in for another kiss.