Lost in the Shadows

Chapter 4

                   

The crash and roll of waves pounding the rocks at the cliff-base, the ever-constant soundtrack to his never-ending life, echoed in the cave as David pushed his motorcycle further up the narrow path. The rocky little cavern, eked into existence by thousands of years of salt spray, made a perfect alcove for the boys to stash their bikes.

How many times had he stood there, gazing into that iron grey, swirling ocean, longing to feel the cool water suck and pull at him, thrashing him rhythmically against the tooth-jagged rocks? How many days had he dreamed about feeling his blood trickle from his rubbed-raw skin, bleeding his half-life into the water? Sometimes, only sometimes – though more often of late- he had lingered just a fraction longer outside than he knew he should, wondering how bad the pain would be if he let those warm rays caress his cold, cold skin... Would it burn like a splash of scalding water, or would it be more like acid? How long would it take to extinguish this cold, empty existence he had been subjected to?

David had really cut it close this time he knew, the warm orange glow of the sun lighting up the mouth of the sheltered cove with a promise of a new and beautiful day that was so far removed from the torrential summer rain of the night before.

Carefully, taking the time to stick to the dark shadows thrown into stark relief by the morning sunlight, David picked his way along the well-worn path to the foyer of the hotel, as sunken and forgotten as its namesake.

'Mornin', boys,' he grinned, running a leather gloved hand through his spiked white-blonde hair. The sweet scent of a woman's perfume clung heavily to his skin and clothes, causing the other three to look curiously up at him.

'Busy night, huh?' Paul smirked, his hazel eyes twinkling in the light of the many fresh candles that had been set about the room. There was no electricity below the surface, and any crack that had promised to let in the natural light had long ago been sealed up.

David eased himself into his high-backed chair, its wide thin wheels had long since rusted still. He stretched out his long legs and laced his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. The flickering light played on his ever-so-slightly smiling lips, glinting off the tiny white sliver of his teeth that could barely be seen.

'I'm surprised to see you all up. Thanks for the welcoming committee, I didn't know you cared so much.'

Marko chuckled a little nervously, causing David to open one eye. He glanced from Marko to Paul to Dwayne, but it was the strange expression on the latter's face that made him look again.

'What's going on?' His ice blue eyes, cold and calculating, narrowed as he swept the room with them. Having now fully shaken off the last remnants of the dark and brooding thoughts that had filled his mind so much of late, David's heightened senses picked up a scent that was unfamiliar in its sweetness, different to the cloying perfume he had brought with him. Warm flesh, pumping blood and a sharp acrid smell that almost made him wince.

'What have you done?' he snarled accusingly under his breath as he lurched to his feet and swung around to the others gathered around the rim of the fountain like loyal subjects arranged before his regal throne. David had been the first to turn to the shadows, long ago, and because of that had remained the unspoken, unchallenged leader of the Lost Boys – like a twisted, perverted Peter Pan. He was both mother and father to the boys who would never grow old, teaching them the unwritten rules of their kind, and making new ones. 'No one is to come here!' He roared, his angry words reverberating around the hollow room. 'You threaten our existence with your selfish stupidity!' But then, he wondered silently to himself, would that be such a bad thing after all? For a moment his ageless features looked tired, a flicker of exhaustion replaced the fury.

'She's not a threat,' Dwayne suddenly countered, standing up as David bore down on him. Of a similar age, Dwayne was as dark as David was fair, his sculpted biceps left bare by his sleeveless band t-shirt because his leather jacket lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

'She?' The anger had seeped out of David's tone to leave nothing but danger. 'She? You'd kill us all for a two minute lay?'

'No!' protested Dwayne urgently, glancing over his shoulder as the other two stood up behind him. 'No, David, it's not like that.'

'Then what is it like?' David's cold eyes were narrowed again, his stubbly jaw set in disgust. 'Tell me Dwayne. Did you think you'd bring her back to share? Maybe we could have her as a midday snack?' He laughed indifferently at his own little joke. David gave the other boy a short, sharp shove in the chest with his fist which made Dwayne stumble back. His thick fists curled at his side, longing to strike back but not daring to. David laughed again. 'Come on, Dwayne. You wanna fight it out? Maybe you need reminding who's in charge around here. Come on, let's have it out. Winner gets the girl.'

'She's my sister!'

David's face was emotionless, he didn't blink as he took a step back. His teeth were white and gleaming as he slowly enunciated each word.

'Get rid. Let Paul and Marko do it if you can't. We cannot risk people knowing where we are, especially not at the moment. It's too dangerous.'

Dwayne shook his head, his long straight hair falling over his pleading eyes like a dark curtain.

'David, no. Please, don't make me do that. She's been through enough already, she was asleep when I brought her here. Besides, she's my sister, David, my goddamned sister. Don't you remember what it was like to have family?'

'No.' A lie. A blatant lie that David covered by turning away and running his hand through his hair. 'Fuck!' he cursed loudly, kicking a nearby rock with such force that it bounced off a fallen boulder and into a group of candles that spluttered and extinguished themselves as they collapsed into the pool of molten wax at their base. Sensing David was on the edge of persuasion, Dwayne grabbed his arm.

'She doesn't know what we are,' he insisted, his dark brown eyes earnest as David spun to meet them.

How? He wondered silently to himself, how could she not know what soul-destroying monsters we are when its written so obviously across our beautiful faces?

'One night,' David relented. 'She can stay one night, as long as you keep it that way. The minute she discovers who we are, the girl is dead.'

*****
'Daddy?' Star murmured with a frown, half-formed images of smoke-covered, heart-stopping carnage. She tossed and turned on the soft mattress beneath her, reaching out automatically as her eyes tried to adjust to the dark.

'No, Star... its Dwayne. Dad's dead.' His gentle tone was hushed, barely a whisper. Star could feel the hard muscled form of her brother lying beside her. She groaned as those words hit home, tears squeezing from eyes that still stung from acrid smoke. So it hadn't been a bad dream after all. Star groaned again as the pain from the night before flooded back into her stiffening limbs.

'I thought I dreamed it,' she whispered back, a child in the darkness, tossed upon the waves of a disorientating nightmare.

'No, but its ok sweets. I gotcha now.' Dwayne smoothed Star's sooty hair back from her face that was damp with tears.

'Why did you come back?' she asked, after a moment. Dwayne hadn't been to their condo for at least two years, maybe more.

'I always come back. I never really left, it's just that I prefer the dark now.'

'But, where are we?' Star frowned, sitting up beside her brother.

'At my friends place, doesn't matter where. Just know that I'm with you now, you're safe. He can't hurt you anymore.'

So many emotions flooded Star; confusion, relief at being free, fear at this new found freedom, pain, and guilt, sorrow... the list was mixed and endless. But the darkness was soothing. The candles had long since burned out and in that black hollow darkness, it was easy to be drawn back into sleep, lulled by the distant music of gentle waves rolling somewhere so far away.

David slipped back into the hallway as Star settled back into Dwayne's arms, back into sleep, confident that for now their secret was safe. But for how long?