David stood looking out over the water, his eyes narrowed angrily. He could feel the bond between him and Michael stretched thin by distance and whatever Sam had done. It felt like losing one of their own all over again, like when they had lost Marko. It had been a couple of days already already since Sam and the Frogs had snatched Michael out from under them. After years of silence, years of not seeing hide nor hair of the little wannabe hunters they suddenly appear and take his mate.

Dwayne and Paul weren't far behind him, leaning against their bikes and casually passing a joint between icy fingers. "It's winter. The nights are getting longer," Dwayne said in a cool, calm voice.

Paul handed the joint back to Dwayne after a pull, shaking his hair out as a gust of wind picked up to brush at the trio in frigid bites that a human would recoil from. "Should've killed them years ago," he remarked bitterly. They all felt the pain of their first lost brother, Marko, but Paul had taken it the hardest. They'd had their first kills together, Marko and him.

David turned back to face them, "yeah, should have taken care of them, would have if Michael wasn't still so attached to his brother. Maybe now this whole thing will have made an impression." David bit out angrily, "if he won't kill Sam, I will. The minute we find them, all three of them are dead."

They'd dealt with very few hunters in the past, and none of them had been so lucky as Sam Emerson and the Frog brothers. He could still feel Marko's blood, seeping sticky-sweet through his coat as he carried their brother to a pit in the sunken hotel. All three of them seethed with bitter rage at the shared thought. Only two good things came from that whole debacle, Michael's transformation and Max's death. The old man had managed to off their so called sire and David had never been happier that he had dosed Michael with his own blood instead of the old bat's. It didn't take long after that for the brunette to make his first kill and what a sight that had been. He looked perfect covered in blood and the sex had been fantastic.

"How far are they now?" Dwayne asked, flicking ash into the air. They'd only risen several minutes ago, and the day of waiting as David's connection with Michael grew fainter it was all he could do not to lose his temper and hazard the sun to track them down. They'd had precious little time to seek shelter the morning before when it had happened. The hunters must have been planning this for a long time.

"Too far, it'll take time to catch up, time we might not have. Who knows what those idiots have planned." David growled, "we'd better get going." He said, heading for his bike.

"I wonder if the Froggies taste as good as their parents," Paul mused, hooping onto his bike and snatching the joint from Dwayne for one last, luxurious pull. The smoke mingled with ocean fog and salt.

"Well, we're going to find out. If we can't find Michael right off let's hope we find them first." David said, starting his bike, "I think I want Frog for dinner tonight."

"Michael!" He could hear the twerp shouting, "Mike!"

David wanted to follow them, wring their necks, strip the skin from their fingers slowly while they watched him lap up the blood. He wanted to do a lot of things right now, but the fucking burn marks on his arm and Marko's twitching corpse on the ground behind him were a stark reminder of what would happen if he didn't wait until nightfall.

"We gotta go. We can't wait for your brother," he heard one of them call out.

"He's toast!" The other agreed, just as loyal to his twisted sense of bravery.

David snarled, the flesh on his hand slowly mending as he glared out at the slowly setting sun. Michael. Well, if what they said was true during their escape he was still here. While they lost Marko there was at least someone left behind they could take their anger out on. Perhaps even two someones if Star was still here. Oh, how he hoped she was. His patience with her had worn out.

"Michael," he called softly, hoping for some sign that he was there, "is Star with you?" He had more control over him than her, being that it was David's blood Michael had consumed. The half-vampire would feel his voice, deeper than his own thoughts.

A panicked, drowsy response came after what felt like minutes of empty silence, "David?" So they really had left him behind. For all they knew, a lamb to the slaughter.

David smirked, "Oh, yes, Michael, they left you behind. You're mine now, no escape." He hissed out, "is Star with you?"

"She's-" Michael hesitated, "-no. You're not hurting her, David." It was a tired, empty attempt at a threat. He'd struck a chord, too. To be abandoned so easily by one's own brother. The scent of Marko's blood fresh in the air did nothing to arouse any sympathy from David.

"Never said I was going to, is she there or not?" He growled, ordering him to answer the actual question.

Michael couldn't lie. With enough pressure, he wouldn't be able to stay quiet forever, either.

"She is," he finally relented, "and I'm taking her with me."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere. You're staying put right where you are." The sun dipped below the horizon as he spoke, "I'll be there before you know it."
Paul and Dwayne drifted to the ground, following David's gaze.

"Are we gonna follow those fuckers? Rip their heads off?" Paul demanded, kneeling to examine what was left of Marko. Just a shell. A shell in a patchwork jacket.

David strode forward, making his way to where he felt Michael, "no, not yet, we have other guests to play with. One of them we can even kill."

"No, man, we can't do that!" Sam insisted, eyes nervously darting to their heavily-customized trailer, the windows thoroughly blacked out. "We didn't go through all this trouble just to kill my brother. We're gonna cure him, remember?" They'd parked miles out in the middle of nowhere, safe from cops, safe from vampires. Nobody would find them, and if they did then they'd find their bellies full of lead or a face-full of holy water. Knowing Edgar Frog, probably a combination of the two.

"He's been a bloodsucker too long, how you think we're gonna cure him?" Edgar asked, looking at the trailer where the bound and gagged vampire was stashed.

"We can start with just weaning him off. That was the plan, right? Start with small animals. Squirrels. Cats. Then we give it to him in a jar or something-you promised we'd at least try. I've been hunting with you guys for a long time. You owe me!"

Edgar tossed his hands up, "fine, fine, but he tries to chomp us and it's game on."

"I still think we shoulda used the pliers on his dead ass when he was sleeping. No more teeth, no more bloodsucking," Alan remarked, glaring over at the trailer. "You know how many chicks I had to roofie at that bar to get him to finally bite?" He took an angry bite of his liver loaf sandwich and a guzzle of his lukewarm beer. The Frog brothers hadn't changed much over the years. If anything, they'd gotten a little worse.

"Probably would have just grown back." Edgar mumbled, snagging the beer out of his brother's hand and taking a drink. "Fine, Sam, this is your show, what do you want us to do?"

"So we start by going to that animal shelter," Sam suggested, a little guiltily, "or if he really needs it, we can go hunting. There's lots of deer around here, and you just got your license renewed, didn't you Ed?" He had to admit even to himself, the idea of taking Fluffy home just to feed her to his undead older brother (who looked half Sam's age now) was a little repugnant-but their choices right now were pretty limited.

"Alan can go get a cat or something, I'll stay here with you, make sure you don't do something stupid, like letting the bloodsucker out."

"Stop calling him that!" Sam shouted, "he's Michael. Call him Mike if you have to, but don't call him bloodsucker."

"Leopard spots," Alan retorted, boiling the argument down to two words.

The trailer began to shudder, as loud thumping sounds emanated from inside.

Alan smirked, "sleeping beauty's up."

Edgar snickered, "go get something for it to eat, I'll keep watch." He finished the rest of Alan's beer. He turned his gaze back to Sam, "you wanna go talk to it?"

Sam glared at him, "if I open one of the windows, are you gonna shove a crossbow through it?"

"You want me to? Told you, this is your show, you get bit that's on you." He shot back.

Letting out a deep breath, Sam stood up from the rest stop picnic table, and stalked towards their trailer. Alan had unhooked it from the truck so he could drive back into town when needed, so there was no need to worry about accidentally towing Michael with him.

"Mike?" He called out nervously, settling on the windows at the back doors of the trailer that he'd covered with black canvas. "Listen, it's me, Sam."

"What the fuck, Sam?" Michael growled, somehow he had gotten the gag out but his hands were still bound behind him.

"I-I know this isn't how you probably wanted to meet again, but it's okay. We're gonna fix you, Mike. I promise."

"Fix me? I'm not broken! Come in here and untie me or I swear, when I get free, I'm going to be the least of your worries."

Sam shook his head, "I can't do that. Alan's going back into town now to get you some food. Then we can figure this all out. Do-" he hesitated, "-would you prefer cats or dogs? Does it make a difference?" He'd feel a hell of a lot guiltier feeding his brother a cat, but Sam was prepared to do the unthinkable if he had to.

"Sam," Michael hissed out, "you need to let me go. Now." He sounded angry, but there was a hint of fear, too. Maybe he was afraid it would taste bad. Sam didn't blame him.

"Mike, it's gonna be ok, aren't you happy? I came back for you!" What was wrong with him? Aside from the blood drinking. He should be grateful.

"No, Sam. You came back for yourself. You left me to die," he replied bitterly, "so just let me go."

He scowled, "no, I came for you, I'm going to fix you Mike, cure you!"

"You can't cure dead!" Michael shouted, a loud crashing sound emanating from inside the trailer. He'd probably broken something in there. The cot Sam left for him, or something else. It'd be a lot easier to tell if he unblocked the window. "If you don't let me go now, I can't protect you!"

"Protect me from what? We're safe out here, no one is gonna find us out here."

"If they do, we'll be ready for them," Edgar remarked, clapping Sam on the shoulder, "monster bashers. Truth, justice, and the American way."

"Sam," Michael whispered. He was probably pressed up against the door now, "don't make me choose. I can't. They're coming. I can feel them."

He looked at Edgar, scowling, "they have no idea where we went, no idea what direction we went or anything. Mike, they can't find us." He tried to reassure him, "why would you want them to?"

"I don't want them to. I need it," Michael whispered, "his blood is in my veins."

"What do you need? I don't get it! Explain it to me, Mike!"

"Oh for-are you really that fucking stupid, Sam? You had a half-naked Rob Lowe poster on your closet door when you were fourteen!" Michael snapped, "do I have to spell it out? David's my mate. Happy? We kill people and we screw. Sometimes at the same time. Any other questions? Details, you want those too?!"

He looked at Edgar, "mate? What the hell? That wasn't in any of our research."

Edgar gagged, "that's sick. Yeah, that wasn't in anything I read. Maybe Alan. He likes kinky shit." Edgar shoved a hand into one of his army coat pockets and pulled out a rope of licorice, offering it to Sam after picking off the worst of the lint.

Alan called back to them from the safety of the truck, where he'd been watching everything unfold, "what did he say?"

"Something about David being his mate, what's a mate?"

Alan cringed, "that sucks. Guess we gotta stake him after all. Bloodsuckers get real protective when they pick a mate. I guess it's like being married if you don't count all the shared blood-drinking, murder, and mental hookup. Anywhere one goes, the other will know where they are. Separated too long, they start to go crazy. I've got a couple of books somewhere in my steamer trunk. Pictures, too. Weird shit."

Sam was worried, "Mike? We're gonna fix this it's not like he's in your head controlling you or anything, you're still you. We're gonna fix it, I promise." He laid his hand on the side of the trailer, "I'm gonna save you, Mike."

Michael mumbled something under his breath, though what he said was anyone's guess, and a part of Sam couldn't blame him. Addicts struggled with anger issues, didn't they? That's all his brother was now, and he had to remind himself of that. He was just an addict. He'd thank all of them later when he could see things more clearly. Besides, if they cured Michael, whatever weirdo mate thing he had with one of those bloodsuckers would be broken too.

This was supposed to be simple. Go to the hotel, grab Star and the kid, then make a break for the house. If they were lucky, Sam and his obnoxious friends would somehow deal with the vampires too. Michael didn't want to think about that part, because if he let himself focus on it he wouldn't have been able to let his brother come with him. This was all one horrible nightmare.

Star wasn't in bed, and from what he could tell Laddie was nowhere to be found either. Michael stumbled blindly in the dark, using the walls to support himself at times just to feel the cool stone and old plaster. It helped him focus on keeping his eyes open. How much time did he have?

"Star," Michael whispered, reaching out towards a tattered curtain hammered into a passage he hadn't noticed before. The scent of dried flowers whispered through the cracks behind the curtain. She was close.

"I'm gonna get you out of here," he promised, stifling a yawn as he slipped into the passage.

"Michael?" Her voice came out softly from an area off the tunnel to his right.

He pushed forward into the darkness, following the sound of Star's voice, "why are you back here?" He asked, a sudden chill running down his spine. Before the shouting even started, he knew something bad had happened with his brother and the Frogs. He felt it.

"I couldn't sleep, it was too bright." She mumbled softly. She was huddled in a ball on the ground, wrapped in a glittering comforter. Blearily, she reminded him of a bird tearing through the night sky with her fall of dark curls spread about her.

"Can you walk?" He asked, kneeling down beside her, trying to ignore the shouts of Sam calling out to him. They could wait. Nobody would catch them outside, if sunlight really did kill vampires.

She reached up, pulling at him lightly, "Michael, I'm so tired," she mumbled, "sleep with me."

"Star," he protested weakly, sinking down to his knees, "we've gotta get outta here. What about Laddie?" Distantly, he heard one of the Frogs yelling to just leave him behind. When Sam didn't argue, Michael felt a knife twisting in his gut, even as he laid down beside Star. Just to rest his eyes. Then he'd carry her out and walk home if he had to. It was so nice and dark in here. Quiet.

She pressed herself against him, eyes closed, "I told him to run, he's safe." She mumbled softly.

"That's…" He wasn't even able to finish his thought, wrapped with Star in her blanket. A few minutes stretched into hours. Then all at once, he was awake, and searching the empty dark around them, arguing with David's voice in his head.

"Star, he's coming," Michael whispered, throwing the blanket off of them, "we've gotta go, now!" They were running out of time. He could feel it. The sun was setting, and the one chance they had was about to disappear.

David smirked from the entrance to the room they were in, "he's here." He smirked, barring the way.

Michael immediately moved to shield Star, climbing to his feet and pulling her up behind him. He summoned his courage, bolstered by anger and the need to protect her, and his family, "David."

"Michael." He replied, "you've caused us a lot of trouble, the two of you," he looked between the two of them, "and you're going to pay for what happened to Marko."

Star's breath caught in her throat, and Michael felt her clinging to his shoulder.

For an instant, Michael was taken aback, "what-" his eyes darted to the passage behind David as Paul and Dwayne appeared behind him, shadows rising from the dark, "-what happened?"

Had Sam and his friends really managed to…? That's why they'd come there, but there was no way. If they had, Sam wouldn't have just left him behind, knowing what was going to happen to him. He wouldn't. They were brothers.

"They killed Marko, they killed our brother, now you will make your kill and I will take his brother." David bit out sharply.

Michael narrowed his eyes, remaining defiant despite the twisting pain in his stomach, "I'm not a killer." The memory of their grinning faces dripping with blood as they shouted at him on the beach was still fresh in his mind, and he reminded himself exactly what David, Paul, Dwayne-and even Marko were. Monsters. Whatever David's blood had done to him, whatever it was trying to do, Michael would fight it.

David glanced back at Dwayne and Paul, seeming to have a silent conversation before the two boys moved past him into the room, each grabbing one of Michael's arms before hauling him toward David. He threw every ounce of strength he had into struggling, while Star stumbled forward to pull at his jacket, falling to the ground when Dwayne shoved her away.

"No!" Star shouted, "David, please!"

"Let me go!" Michael demanded, unable to break their firm hold on him.

David smirked at him, grasping his chin and forcing his head back, "hungry?" He asked, looking down at him, "here, let me sate your hunger." With his free hand he slit his throat before pulling Michael up so his lips were inches from the wound, "have a drink."

He tried to fight it. God, how he tried, but it had been easier to fight his hunger on the beach. He wasn't up close and personal with the blood, and David's smelled so much stronger. Richer.

Distantly, he thought he heard Star weeping as he closed his eyes and felt the bones in his face shifting, his teeth growing sharp. Michael tried to hold his breath, to turn away, but David kept his fingers firm in Michael's hair, claws digging into his scalp when he struggled. Until all he could do was think of the blood, and Star cried out to him when he felt his lips on David's neck. There was nothing like it. He hated himself for the desperate groan he let out, struggling not to get away, but to get closer. More. He wanted more. David let him, let him press closer, let him take what he wanted, the hot blood pouring past his lips.

"Good boy, drink as much as you want. I've got plenty more where that came from." He smirked at Star from over Michael's shoulder.

Wordlessly, Paul and Dwayne stepped back, letting Michael dig his fingers into David's coat. He didn't even know why he'd been fighting this anymore. It was everything.

Star sobbed, pressing herself up against the wall, making herself as small as possible as she tried to put space between them. "Don't," she begged, "David, don't…"

"Don't what, Star?" He stroked through his hair, eyes locked on her.

"Don't make us do it," she repeated, tears streaking her face, bare feet sliding over rock in a soft whisper.

Paul grinned, glancing over at David, while Dwayne merely crossed his arms to watch. At this point Max's commands to grow their family had become a joke.

"Oh, don't worry, Star. You don't have to do anything." He grinned, "in fact, all you have to do is hang out right where you are." He gently urged Michael away from his throat, "easy Michael, I have something even better for you to taste." He leaned close, licking a stray drop of blood from his chin, "a pretty little thing, just waiting for you to sink your teeth into."

With David's blood fresh on his tongue and lips, the dark urges Michael had tamped down took control. The human half of his mind screamed as he flew at her. Dark curls he'd brushed his hands through on a passionate night to help keep the hunger at bay only spurred him on now to tear her head back and bite deep. She didn't even have time to scream. By the time he was done, Star was a broken, bloodied doll on the ground staring back with empty glass eyes. Michael gazed back, perched on his knees and baptized by her death.

David slid his fingers through his curls, "good job, Michael." He smirked down at him before looking at Dwayne and Paul, "welcome your brother, boys."

"Sam!" Michael called out. His brother had stopped replying to him about an hour ago, said he was going for a walk until Michael calmed down. His fingers twitched, ready to tear and rend in frustration. The minute those fuckers opened this stupid door to feed him a fucking housepet, he was going to show the Frog brothers what their insides looked like in full color.

He slammed the back of his head against the trailer door, arms clasped over his knees. He hadn't been separated from his pack-from David-since he'd died. It was worse than missing a limb. It was like reaching into his mind for a thought, and finding nothing but an empty, bleak darkness. Veins of insanity were beginning to weasel their way into his skull. Why the fuck couldn't he break this stupid door open? It shouldn't be that hard.

"David," Michael reached into the dark schism in his mind again, hopeless, "David?"

He could feel a trickle, a thin link, and a muffled feeling of worry tinged with fear. No words, but it was something. "They're going to feed me Lassie," he sent the thought out with bitter humor. Maybe David would hear it. Or maybe Michael had already snapped.

"Lassie is stupid, bet it'll taste like shit." The words were broken but he could hear them at least or maybe it was all in his head, "eat a Frog instead."

Michael snorted, peering up at the metal roof of the trailer where he'd left deep tears and scratches without so much as a tiny hole to glimpse the stars, "they smell kinda funky. Maybe I'd be better off with the dog. I'm sure it bathes." Even if this was all in his head, a false simile of David, a shadow of him going crazy, it filled a void. On the rare occasion they got pissed off enough to draw blood from each other (and it wasn't just for fun), David had promised he could never really run away. Now Michael was beginning to see why.

"Hold on, Michael, we'll be there as soon as we can. Don't let those little shits get to you."

"I think we're near the woods somewhere. Can't hear any cars. They drove all day." He knew that much. Even when he was blitzed out on whatever drug they'd slipped into his meal, and the sun was hot enough to nearly cook him in the trailer, he'd felt it moving. It was a wonder they didn't get pulled over, as fast as they'd been going.

"Not sure how much longer I can keep this open, just try to hold on. Your brother is an idiot, guess he didn't do much research, did he? Obviously he wants you to go nuts. Guess he doesn't realize what I'm going to do to him, does he?"

He didn't want to think about it. "No," Michael whispered, closing his eyes, "he doesn't."

"Maybe you should explain some things to him before I get there. It might save his pathetic little life."

"If he lets me go, you won't kill him?"

"I'll consider it. He'd have to let you go, beg for forgiveness, and never come near us again."

Michael let out a deep breath, "I'll try."

"Mike?" Sam was back, great, "you awake?"

"So you're finally back?" Michael asked bitterly, "change your mind yet?" The wounds of being left behind still stung. Sam's misguided attempts to 'fix everything' twenty years after the fact was salt on the raw holes left behind. Still…

"Before you start running your mouth," Michael cut Sam off just as he heard his former brother take a deep breath to give him some stupid long-winded speech, "you can't take it all back, Sam. I've killed people. I enjoy it. I killed Star," he'd never forget that mingling pain and thrill of doing it, "David is my mate now. We're connected. I don't know how to explain it so you'll understand, but if we're not…" He trailed off, not sure exactly how to phrase it. "We share minds. If we're broken up, we'll go crazy. I'm losing myself, Sam. When I'm gone this time, I can't come back. They'll find us, and when they do, you'll be just another meal. Do you understand?"

"No, no, Mike, I can fix this! You're an addict, we just have to wean you off the stuff, you'll get better!"

Michael stared ahead at the cot he'd destroyed on the opposite end of the trailer, gnarled springs and twisted metal arms waving at him in the dark. "An addict? Is that what I am?"

He could picture Sam nodding emphatically, "yeah! That's right, Mike, an addict!"

"So you and the Frogs. You hunt vampires and kill them, right?" He would try reasoning with him like he was talking to a small child, since being blunt didn't work.

"Well, yeah." He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then if I'm an addict, and you can save me—what about them?"

Sam was silent outside, "we, we only have so many resources, we can't save everyone." He said softly, "but we can save you!"

"You can't pick and choose who's worth saving," Michael snapped, "even if you could save me, it means you've been murdering people too, Sam. Think about it."

"No, no, Mike, you're wrong!" It sounded like he was trying to convince himself. Maybe he was beginning to get through to him. Even when they were kids, Sam had been just as stubborn as him.

"Do you like doing it, Sam? Seems like your friends sure do." He was tired, and it wasn't as easy to force his influence on a human without eye contact, but Michael used what little power he could muster to try. "We're brothers. You can fix everything by letting me go home. You can just tell them I broke out. Nobody will get hurt."

He could feel his brother's indecision, "no, I, I'm not a murderer, I'm not a killer!" He exclaimed, "how do I know you won't eat them or me?" He squeaked.

"Because no matter what, I'm still your brother. We gotta stick together, right? I wouldn't kill you Sam. Ever." Despite the fact that Sam was starting to smell like a five course dinner, Michael was sure he wouldn't. If he could help it.

"Sam! What're you doing?!" One of the Frogs had come back and he was so close!

"Alan! I, umm, well…" He was silent for a moment, "did you bring it?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.

Michael scowled. Whatever it was that they'd brought back, it smelled like it was dying.

"Hard to get anything good for less than fifty bucks," the Frog grumbled, "so fang-boy's just gonna have to deal with it and be glad we're even feeding it."

It was decided. When he got out of here, that asshole was the one getting his eyes popped out like grapes.