Stricken

Zara paced the room, heart pounding, palms sweating, panting. What was she going to do? Should she warn Sam and Michael? Maybe they already knew.

Maybe they were already dead...

Zara stopped, chewing at her lip as that thought cut through her mind. Sam and Michael were dead...They wouldn't stand a chance against David. No matter how much she loved David, she couldn't let him kill those two.

Grabbing her jacket from a kitchen chair, she ran outside to her bike, and started it up. The ride to their house seemed to take hours; it was almost painful waiting to get there. The dark house loomed in the distance and Zara threw her bike to the ground, running inside. The room seemed to glow red, the air was filled with the smell of burning flesh and skin. The stench of blood was horrible.

Zara wrinkled her nose against the smell, gagging. What had happened? Something lay sparking and hissing in the center of the room and to her horror, she was able to see it was the burnt remains of Dwayne. She stumbled back.

"Never!"

Michael! Zara quickly made her way towards the voice. She could hear their voices. They were in mid-air, Michael was clinging to the top of the door frame as David pushed against him, trying to impale him with the antlers behind behind him.

"Its too late. My blood is in your veins." David's voice crept to her.

She could see Micahel's face, determined and angry.

"So is mine!" he snarled.

He let go of the door jam and grabbed David by the collar of his shirt. Zara saw it coming.

"NO!" she screamed.

But it was too late. Michael brought David's body onto the antlers. They ran through his chest, piercing his heart.

"No!" Zara ran to him, pushing past Michael.

David was trying desperately to release himself, but his body was giving out on him too quickly.

"David..." Zara whimpered, grabbing him by the shirt. "David."

"Zara," he croaked, his breathing coming in unsteadily. He touched her face. "I'm...I'm...sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Tears streamed down her face as she grabbed oen of the horns. He touched her hand and shook his head. She let out a sob and buried her face in his neck. She heard him chuckle.

His lips touched her hair. "I love you," he said softly.

His body grew still and the pain came like she'd been ran through herself.

"DAVID!" she cried, gripping his shirt tightly. "David, please!"

"He's gone, Zara..."

She whirled on Michael, faster than he expected. She tackled him to the ground, shrieking with melovlence and fury.

"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!"

She struck at him, but he grabbed her throat and threw her aside. Her eyes had turned yellow, her face grotesque like his. She bared her fanged teeth at him.

"You killed him...You killed him in vain. He wasn't the leader..."

Michael's face was afraid as he heard her growled words.

"Michael!" Star shouted, running into the room.

He grabbed her and pulled her into the shadows. "Don't let them see me like this."

"Michael!" Sam called.

He and the Frog brothers stopped dead at the sight of Zara. She was on her knees, crouched into a ball, her shoulders shaking with silenced sobs.

"Zara?" Sam spoke softly, coming towards her.

"Don't touch her, Sam," Michael said. "Get away."

"Micahel, what's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I said, get away!" Michael growled.

"What's the big deal? You destroyed the head vampire," Edgar said. "Its all over."

"Nothing's changed," said Michael.

"He's right. I don't feel any different," whispered Star.

"There's still one more," Edgar said.

"Sam?" Mrs. Emerson's voice called. "Sam? Michael?"

"I'll handle Mom," Sam said. "Don't let her see any of the bodies."

Zara heard their hurried footsteps and Lucy's outburst. Her head rose slightly from the floor. Feet moved by her and she looked up. It was Max, Lucy's employer and boyfriend. He turned David's face and, as Zara rose, she saw he looked younger, more innocent than he had before. She clenched her teeth.

Max moved past her and she thought he wouldn't do anything, when he touched her shoulder.

"You meant a lot to him," he said and continued walking.

Zara stood frozen. No, it couldn't be...

"I'm sorry, Lucy," she heard Max say. "This is all my fault. David and my boys misbehaved. I told you, boys need a mother."

"Max, what are you talking about?" Lucy asked.

"I knew it! You're the head vampire!" Sam exclaimed. Zara moved slowly out into the living room.

"Sam, don't start this again."

"You're the secret David was protecting," Star said, coming up beside Zara.

Max nodded and smiled.

"But you passed the test," Allan said.

"Don't ever invite a vampire into your house, you silly boy. It renders you powerless."

"Did you know that?" Sam asked.

"Of course," Edgar said. "Everyone knows that."

"Has everyone gone crazy? What's the matter with all of you?"

"It was you I was after, all along, Lucy," Max admitted. "I knew...if I could get Sam and Michael into the family...There was no way you could say no."

"Where's Michael?" Lucy demanded.

"It was all going to be so perfect...Just like one big happy family. Your boys...and my boys..."

"Great. The bloodsucking Brady Bunch," Edgar spat.

Max turned, his features vampiristic. "I still want you, Lucy." She screamed. "I haven't changed my mind about that."

"I didn't invite you this time, Max!" Michael snarled, coming from the shadows.

The chaos began. Michael charged him. Star came at him. Edgar and Allan attacked.

Zara grabbed a splintered piece of wood and came at him. He grabbed her wrist and a minor look of confusion came to his ugly face.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You're the reason David's dead!" she seethed. "If I would have known it was you...I could have saved him."

Max chuckled. "So naive young love is. Why don't you do David a favor and do as I say, hm?"

"Never," Zara hissed.

Max shrugged and threw her into the wall. Pain filled her whole body and blackness blocked her vision. No! She had to keep Max from getting Mrs. Emerson! She had to...

A rocketing boom filled her ears and the ground seemed to shake. Light filled her blackened vision and her eyes finally managed to get open. Fire blossomed in front of her and she buried her head in her arms.

It became silent except for coughing and gagging coming from the others. Zara slowly got up, hanging onto the wall for support. She felt different. Empty. It wasn't just because of David. She felt...normal again. Max was dead.

While the other's were occupied, she shuffled over to David's body. So innocent looking...Tears welled up in her eyes again and she kissed his cold lips.

"I love you too," she said softly and left.

"Zara! Where have you been? Where's Emily?"

Zara seemed to jerk awake. She was standing in her kitchen and her mother was looking at her expectantly, slightly worried.

"I don't know..." was all Zara said. "I'm really tired. I'll see you in the morning."

She made her way slowly up the steps, the grief growing in her chest. Her mother's yelling was muffled, she didn't pay attention to what she was saying. The door closed behind her and she climbed under covers without changing.

Hour after hour ticked by and Zara couldn't sleep. It hurt. She wanted David. She wanted to feel his cold lips on her skin and his hand in her's. She wished he was with her right then.

She'd never felt so alone.

His final expression of love...of pain and knowing his end had come...That's what haunted her dreams.

Zara lay asleep in her room, the sheets twisted around her legs, showing uneasy sleep. Her face was uneasy and their was a tear trail down her face. The sash of her window slowly slid open and something dark slipped inside. It crept to her bed before rising to its full height.

His platinum hair glowed in the dim light and his eyes shimmered. He kissed her lips softly, then the tear that strayed down her face. He leaned to her ear.

Even as she slowly awoke at the darkness in her room, his voice still floated in the air.

"You'll never be alone."