Say Live, Let Die

Chapter 28: "take my hand"

They purged the cave best they could. Anything and everything Star and Laddie had touched or called dibs on was taken out to the rocks just above the tide line and collected into a burn pile. The old twin mattress, the torn lacy curtains, clothing, all the stuffed animals the Boys had stolen from the Boardwalk for Laddie: it all burned to charred clumps of fabric, plastic, and foam.

It gave Marko something to do. He did like a good fire.

David took up residence in the wheelchair, directing Beth around the cave, as she took stock of what was left. There were two bottles of David's wine, which everyone really knew to be Max's blood, which she found on a shelf in the old wooden bar the Boys had dragged over and set up across from the broken fountain. Beth looked them over before setting them in a cardboard box to be returned to the house for proper storage.

"Wouldn't it be better to keep them here, for Marko?" David asked.

"Don't you mean the both of you?" Beth raised a brow.

"I'm not drinking that shit ever again." David growled darkly.

Beth frowned. "What if something happens and you need to heal?"

"I have you."

"David, you bled me out once already."

"You're fine plus you're a vampire now. You'd make a kill afterwards, fill up on blood, you'd be good as new." David countered.

"What, top me off like a gas tank?"

"Exactly."

"Oh, that makes me feel real special, David." Beth growled.

"It should." David snapped. "You're my own private reserve."

Beth sighed. "Marko's going to eventually figure it out, David, and so are the ghouls."

"I'm not having Max's blood back in my veins. It's bad enough it's still a part of me but I'm not willingly adding to it ever again!"

Shrugging, Beth set the box aside. "You can't erase it, not entirely. That's not how it works, David."

"Watch me."

"He's going to notice-"

"What am I going to notice?" Marko asked, coming around the fountain, a pigeon clinging to his forearm. David snorted angrily and stayed silent, leaving Beth to answer.

"That we can't sleep up here and we're going to have to go back to..."

"To where the Frog staked me. Yeah, I already knew that, Beth." Marko shrugged, running his fingers over the pigeon's wing.

Beth glanced at David before turning back to Marko. "There's parts of this cave that haven't been explored. Another night, we might be able to find somewhere else to sleep."

"Pretty sure the king of Santa Carla would overrule it."

David growled softly. "There's no one left who knows we're here, knows where we sleep. There's nothing to be apprehensive about!"

"There's also no pool, no fridge, no VCR, no pizza delivery, no where to escape to when you two decide to screw each others' brains out!"

"Marko!"

"Leave him alone, David." Beth shook her head. David glared darkly at her. Marko looked between the two vampires.

"Looks like mom and dad are fighting again." He stage whispered dramatically to the pigeon, before he took off towards the other side of the cave. David and Beth watched him disappear into the space where Star's nook had been.