Say Live, Let Die

Chapter 32: "you infected me with envy"

"But, David, I need my books!" Beth cried. David ignored her, climbing the wooden staircase, headed down towards the entrance to the cave. Her pleas, as soon as she had realized where they were headed, had fallen on deaf ears.

David wanted to think and the only place he wanted to be was the cave.

He heard Beth's boots as she followed him, down the wooden stairs and across the bridge, pausing as he lit a torch and went inside. Dumping it in an oil barrel, David surveyed the main room. It was just as they had left it...

...only not.

"What the hell?" David murmured, as the smell hit him.

Somehow, the garbage bags that held the remains of Dwayne and Paul had been transported to the cave and arranged in the middle of the space, inside the broken fountain. They reeked of decay and decomposition, a puddle of dark brown goo growing in the dirt underneath them. What remained of Marko was draped on top of the black plastic bags. The head vampire could see the stained tapestry patches of the jacket the Lost Boy had worn so proudly.

David's mind raced, trying to understand what he was seeing. That splinter was still there, waiting for him to pull it out. He turned his head side to side, trying to look over everything, find clues, to understand. The smells of death and decay overpowered the room, making it difficult to detect any unfamiliar scent. He wanted to know who'd been in the cave, who had defiled his home.

The sound of the gun's hammer being drawn back drew his attention.

Maria smiled warmly, the gun aimed at David's chest. "You look a little lost, Boy."

"What the hell?" David growled, his face shifting into his vampire form, his confusion turning into outright rage. He glanced to the side, looking for Beth, but the blonde wasn't there. Unwilling to take his focus off Maria, David scowled. "What is going on, Maria?"

"Oh, just a little family reunion, that's all. I knew you were lonely without the other Boys' company."

The head vampire's eyes narrowed as he looked at the gun in Maria's hand. He could move fast enough, take it away before she realized.

"Don't try anything." Maria shook her head, her hand steady as she kept the barrel aimed at the vampire. Bringing up her free hand, she shook a bottle at him. It had a plastic spray nozzle attached at the top. "Holy water and vampires really don't mix."

"You. You spiked the bottles of blood? You killed Marko?"

Maria shrugged, her glossy black curls shaking with the gesture. "I knew you kept some spare bottles of Max's blood here, so it wasn't hard to find them, add a little extra something to top them off."

A puzzle piece dropped into place. "You meant to kill both of us. Me and Marko."

"No shit, Sherlock. But I didn't take into account that Beth would prevent you from drinking Max's blood once you were raised. She told me, you know, about your little experiment. Quite clever, really. Didn't take you for being that smart but even you had to get lucky at some point."

David growled, sparing a glance at the other side of the cave. Still no sign of Beth. Had she seen Maria before he had, run off to hide? He hoped she was biding her time, waiting to attack the head ghoul.

"Holy water couldn't have killed the others. Those ghouls were still part human."

"In that you're correct," Maria nodded. "So I used ethylene glycol, antifreeze in the coffee, which they'd never detect. I threw in a holy water chaser, which was surprisingly effective on the vampire blood in their veins. Got a little messy but you have to break a few eggs sometimes!"

David snorted. "Wouldn't Max be so proud!"

"Oh, screw Max! He was just a love sick fool, head over heels for Lucy, couldn't imagine why you four would be upset about gaining a brother or two. It got real tiring at the end, hearing about how perfect and delicate Lucy was, how she'd be such a wonderful mother, set the Lost Boys on the straight and narrow path again!"

"It wouldn't have happened. Max was dreaming."

"I could say the same about you, your dream of being head vampire and ruling Santa Carla. A trio of comic book readers and a teenager in lust with Star took you four out! How sad is that? If you hadn't gone off half-cocked, all hotheaded and blind with blood lust, you'd have survived to fight another night! But that's what you get with teenage boys: they never see what's right in front of them. Or right behind them, in your case."

David frowned. "Behind me? I don't understand..."

"No, you wouldn't." Maria smiled, her white teeth flashing as she began to laugh.