Thou Shall Not Kill - Lost Boys

Chapter Fourteen: Talk

It felt good to be back in their kitchen.

Pouring Michael a cup of coffee and George a glass of orange juice, Azrael turned with the weak morning sun weaved through their hair.

"Can't believe you finally decided to go to school," George chuckled, knocking Michael's arm with his own.

Leaning against the bench, Michael forced a smile through the haze of tiredness hanging thick around his dull eyes. "Yeah, well, it's my last year." He rubbed a hand across his forehead. "I shouldn't have let David and Paul take me out for my last night of holidays."

Michael narrowly avoiding copping a box of painkillers in the face.

Having lobbed the box at their cousin with appreciable aim, Azrael finished pulling their sandshoe over their heel, and turned to the stairs as they tucked their bright blue shirt into their dress pants. "Sam! I'm leaving!"

Between pills, Michael hollered at the empty staircase from the kitchen bench. "Sammy! If you wanna get to school, get your sorry ass down here!"

A rainbow, tie-dye T-shirt and a pair of new jeans stumbled to the lower floor with a blond boy flailing frantically within them. "Sorry, Azrael! I'm coming!"

With Sam struggling to loop his spindly arms through his backpack, Azrael stifled a giggle and gave Michael a final offer of a ride.

"No. Thank. You." Michael spelled out. "I'll take my bike, if it's all the same with you."

"Okey dokey," Azrael chirped. "Just make sure not to piss off any jocks. They'll wreck your bike if you so much as look at them the wrong way."

"Have fun!" George called.

The aging vampire hunter opened his mouth and prepared to speak to Michael...

"Shit!"

Star clattered down the steps, her jarringly blue shirt reflecting beams of colour onto her face. With a pair of oversized pants pulled from Azrael's wardrobe secured haphazardly by a thin belt, she flew to the door, chasing after her adopted family, desperate to avoid having to ride with Michael to work, as it would certainly result in her being extremely late to her first day.

George cackled.

◇◇◇◇◇

Lucy seemed agitated. She still hadn't found a good job, so had spent the last week searching for small ways to make money while she was still unemployed. Azrael asked Kat about ownership of the video shop, but just as they had suspected, she had no idea if Max had any secret alliances or dealings with other vampires who might take over the shop. Every day, Azrael checked on the shopfront, and apart from some vandalism, there was no evidence of damage to a store full of seemingly unguarded electronics.

Lucy's agitation showed itself when Azrael headed straight for the door as the sky turned to ink. Standing over a sizeable saucepan, Lucy crumpled her face into a series of frowns as she gazed at her cousin.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to find Marko," Azrael replied matter-of-factly.

Lucy looked to her children for support, only to find them both pre-occupied with Sam's vampire comic book.

She breathed lightly. "You're not even staying for dinner."

"Sorry. I'll have to pick something up on the boardwalk."

Lucy kept her back turned. "Can't Marko wait? He's got forever," she chuckled weakly.

"Yeah, but, I don't."