First Staked (Alan Frog/The Lost Boys)

Chapter #22: Preparing for War

In the kitchen, Edgar, Sam, Alan and I all stood around the table full of supplies. We listened as Edgar went over exactly what the plan was and what we were going to do. Basically, we were going to lock up the house completely and wait for David and the others to show up. When they did, we'd take them all out. As Edgar finished explaining, he took a moment to look at all of us individually.

    "Any questions?" He wondered.

Sam raised his hand almost immediately, sounding concerned.
    "Yeah. How do we know that this is going to work?"

    "We don't, but it's all we've got right now. That's why we made sure we stocked up heavily on this stuff." Alan answered him.

    "Speaking of." Edgar trailed off, eyes flickering to me. He picked up one of the bulbs of garlic from the bag and carved most of the skin off with his fingers. Once it was just pure garlic, he held it out to me.
    "Touch this. I want to see what you're able and not able to handle as a half."

I looked at him, my eyes a little wide. He was completely serious. As my eyes fell onto the garlic in his hand, I gulped visibly and hesitated a few moments, not knowing what to expect.
    "...Alright..."

I reached out slowly for the garlic. The entire room was silent as everyone, including myself, was holding their breath. Why did the air suddenly feel so heavy? My fingers brushed against the garlic bulb now and I braced for the pain, or whatever was supposed to happen, to happen.

....But nothing ever did. I opened my eyes and saw that my entire palm was overtop of the bulb, touching it. There was no pain at all; no burning, no stinging, nothing. I picked up the garlic and held it fully in my hand, tossing it gently back and forth between the other. Nothing was wrong.

I glanced up at the boys with a triumphant smile.
    "No pain."

    "Well in this case, that's a gain for us." Edgar joked. But now he picked up one of the holy water canteens and unscrewed the cap.
    "Now try holy water."

When he held the canteen out to me, I felt a little more confident this time. Taking my index finger, I slowly dipped it into the container, gasping when what I felt was hot instead of cold. My finger wasn't touching the water, but from the heat wafting up from just below it told me that I was close enough. Enough to know not to go down any further.

I quickly pulled my finger out of the canteen and shook my head at the boys.
    "No way. It felt...hot."

"That's because it burns anything that's unholy." Edgar informed, putting the cap back on the canteen.
    "And I don't just mean you and Alan when you guys were alone last night."

My eyes widened and my face turned a dark shade of red as I realized what he meant. I ran a hand down my face as I stared at him.
"How do you know about that?"

Edgar smirked.
    "I didn't. I was just joking until you confirmed it just now."
My face going even more red, I covered it with both hands as Alan shook his head at his brother from next to me. Satisfied with his teasing, the bandana wearing boy got serious again.
    "But since holy water hurts you, you can help Sam down here with smashing up the garlic. Alan and I will handle the holy water."
He turned to Sam then.
    "We're also going to need Michael's help once your grandfather leaves. Can you go wake him up?"

He nodded.
    "Yeah, sure."

As the blonde headed upstairs to go get his brother, the Frogs and I stayed down in the kitchen. Edgar plopped down in a dining chair and Alan and I sat against the counters next to each other. All of us were silent until I leaned my head onto Alan's shoulder, making him look down at me and slide his hand over to hold mine.