Lost in the Shadows

Chapter 22

The cave was gloomy and cool despite the few candles Star had lit – mostly just for something else to look at rather than any need for the light, as her vision was just as perfect in the dark. She was hunched in a soft pile of cushions on the floor, her thin sparkling shawl pulled tight around her shoulders as she stared into nothingness. David and the other boys were out as usual, so the light touch on her shoulder made her jump.

'You've got dark shadows beneath your eyes, Star. You need to feed.'

'No, Dwayne.'

'You'll starve if you don't feed soon. Think about Laddie, he needs you!' Dwayne insisted, tucking his long hair back behind his ears as he crouched beside his sister. 'When was the last time you went outside?'

'I haven't since the week after he turned. There are so many posters, Dwayne, his face is everywhere.' Star's eyes were huge, haunted. Dwayne nodded.

'David's right though, I've seen his mom and he really is better off with us. With you. But you can't take care of him if you're wasting away. He needs to feed too, you could learn together.'

'He's just a child!' Star cried quietly, keeping her voice as low as she could in an effort not to wake the napping boy who was currently nestled in her bed. 'He shouldn't have to do this.'

'But he needs to.' Dwayne was the voice of reason. 'Let me take him out.' He flung his hands up in immediate supplication as Star rounded on him. 'I won't let him feed from anyone but me, after I've made my kill. He'll stay as he is, like you.'

'Until we can find a way to undo all this,' Star nodded slightly.

'What? Really?' Dwayne blinked, confused. 'But I thought this is what you wanted?'

'So did I.' She stared down at the ornate silver-clad bottle in her hands that sloshed gently when she shook it. It was almost empty. David would refill it for her with his own blood, mixed with red wine to make it more palatable for her as he had done ever since Star had turned – blood of their own kind was bitter, but it wouldn't sustain her forever. She had thought, before Laddie came, that she could follow the others into the shadows and feed because the thought of David's love made her feel brave enough to face anything. Now, she wasn't so sure. 'David isn't who I thought he was.'

Dwayne nodded very slightly, glancing up to check the room was still empty of the others. 'He certainly has changed,' he agreed. 'But I hear love can make you do crazy things.'

'He doesn't love me. He barely even looks at me anymore let alone touches me. It's almost as if he can't stand me and I don't know what I've done wrong.' Tears sparkled in her dark eyes as she set the bottle down with a clatter and wrapped her arms around her drawn up knees. 'I thought I'd finally found where I belonged, Dwayne, after everything that happened with Dad... Then everything with Niko... The whole time I was with that evil snake I never really gave up hope that David would find a way to save me, and I never truly believed he'd given me up willingly.'

'All the more reason to give things another go with him then, surely?'

'I'm not so sure, Dwayne. I don't think I could stand him pushing me away again.' Dwayne nodded and wrapped an arm around his sister, pulling her close to kiss the top of her head.

'I get it. I'm here for you though. And the boy.' Star smiled and didn't stop her brother when he headed towards the sleeping child.

'Laddie, wake up. We're going for a ride!'

******

The velvet dark sky stretched out forever, kissing the black, rolling sea below. Pinpricks of light sparkled in the distance like so many stars – illuminating the boardwalk that David's sharp eyes had little trouble in seeing from so far away. Perched high on a rock with nothing but the booming waves crashing below him and the whip of the light summer wind in his face, David felt at peace for the first time in a while. He could breathe again up here. With his eyes closed and his head tilted up to the sky he remained as motionless as a marble angel. He had the time and space to think, but his thoughts were slowly becoming increasingly unwelcome.

'Don't pursue him,' Max's warning echoed in his mind. 'He's fled back to Italy. Leave it be and let us focus on building our family. You boys need a mother and I would like more boys, more brothers for you to teach. Their education will take your mind off her.' He had told David, much to David's irritation. If he couldn't go after Franco that meant he would forever hover over them like a dark shadow. Star would never be safe and he would never be able to let her out of his sight. Yet he would still never be able to show her the love and affection he wanted to because Max had not lifted his command. David was bound by the laws of his cursed shadow-life to obey his maker. He growled and pummelled his fist against the rock.

David knew that by pushing Star away he would hurt her, he had seen the way she looked at him with those soulful brown eyes. But equally he knew that she was beautiful enough to find someone else, so she would never be alone. Perhaps he could encourage that, before he found a way of leaving this world forever. He looked down at the rocks below and contemplated, not for the first time, whether the fall would be enough to end it, or if he would be need to be pummelled by the rush of water until the sun came up.

Star had Laddie now too, to help her through. That hadn't been the plan initially, but it seemed like a bonus by-product of the situation. Appalled at himself though he was, one should never be made so young, it was the only way David had seen the situation resolving. The boy was an innocent, he didn't deserve to die. Like Star, though, he sometimes felt he had condemned the child to a fate that was so much worse. Marko was beside himself with guilt. He always had been the more sensitive of the boys and nothing David said to him could resolve that. Dwayne and Paul seemed to have accepted David's claim on the situation and he knew they were confused and a little horror-struck by his decision. He could see it in their sly glances and tight lipped conversations that stopped whenever he passed by, but at least they had laid off Marko.

David rubbed his hands wearily over his face, feeling older than he had ever felt before as he cast a long look down at Santa Carla. Little did he know that speeding along the pitch black winding road, heading right towards the sleeping city like a bullet set to tear apart life, was someone who would destroy everything.

4M]BR