Say Live, Let Die

Chapter 19: "now take me"

David entered the master suite to find Marko sitting on the edge of the mattress, staring at the thirty-five inch screen. A fast tempo piano score played while a woman screamed. "What the hell are you watching?"

"Halloween, you goddamn heathen! The mother of all slasher flicks!" Marko growled in reply, gaze still glued to the screen. Maria had thoughtfully done as he'd requested and brought the VHS home with her from the store.

"Out!" David snarled, searching the built-in cabinet's shelves before he found the VCR, stabbing the 'stop' button, and somehow managing to eject the tape. He tossed the VHS at Marko. "Go! Watch it in the living room!"

"What the hell, man?" Marko glowered, catching the tape before it smashed and broke. "This is a rental!"

"We own the goddamn store, Marko!" David's brow grew heavy, his eyes a bloodied golden.

Marko stood up, his own countenance beginning to change. He looked towards the head of the bed, seeing Beth sitting on the edge, not looking at either vampire. "Oh, I get it. You told me it wasn't like that!"

"Get out, Marko!" David rounded on the younger vampire, pushing him out the open door. Marko swore loudly, his blood hot with anger.

"Oh, fuck you, David!" he yelled as the leader of the Lost Boys slammed the door in his face, locking it.

"You're just a tour de force tonight, David, being a royal dick to everyone." Beth growled, staring at her boots. "Max knew to inspire fear sparingly."

"Marko's not scared of me." David countered as he stalked towards the blonde, his eyes still blood red instead of blue. "And I like the ghouls afraid of me. Fear is a healthy emotion to have when it comes to dealing with vampires."

"What about me? Am I supposed to fear you?" Beth looked up at him, the lower half of her face still stained a rusty crimson. David unconsciously licked his lips, his fingers sliding under her chin, tipping her face up higher. He smiled at her, though it wasn't kindness in his eyes.

"Right now, I'm certain that's not the f-word you're thinking about."

The blonde didn't confirm or deny his statement. She simply lay back across the mattress as David crawled atop her.

***

Beth shifted across the mattress after David had gotten up and disappeared into the master bath. She heard the taps come on in the shower. Pulling one of the pillows down, settling her upper half against it, Beth stretched her arms above her head until her spine popped. Most of her clothes were on the floor, along with David's. She pulled the bandeau back into place from where he had shoved it up, trying to run a hand through her hair though it was thoroughly snarled from David's fingers.

Rubbing a hand over her neck, she felt the last of the wounds close. The expensive European sheets Max had loved were trashed, marked with bloodied hand prints, torn from talons, and stained with other evidence of their coupling. For the moment she didn't care, just retrieved a cigarette from the pack on the nightstand and lit it, trying to come down.

It wasn't romantic, what they did. Beth was sure David didn't even know the definition of romance. If there was love between them it was the twisted, messed up kind that wasn't actual love. They shared a healthy sense of mutual preservation, though it leaned more heavily in David's favor than Beth's.

David tolerated her possessiveness of him. He might be a vampire but he was still a teenage male and of course he enjoyed that kind of attention from an attractive girl. Beth wasn't under the illusion he loved her. There had been a time she had loved him, back when they had first met and Santa Carla was new to them both, but that time had long since passed.