Torment

"Christie..."

Christie jumped, terror rising in her chest as she glanced around wildly, searching for whoever had spoken her name. She pulled her thick cardigan tighter around her slim body as she risked a few steps forward, a series of snaps echoing too loudly against the forest floor as she stepped on twigs.

"Christina..."

"What do you want?" she screamed fearfully as her heart began to hammer within her chest. Sinister laughter met her ears and before she knew what was happening, she'd spun on her heel and sprinted through the woods, sharp branches tore at her cheeks and neck as she increased her speed, her feet barely touching the ground as she ran for her life.

Just as her feet touched the rocky ground near the cave, a body rammed into hers and she was sent tumbling over the edge of the cliff, the wind beating mercilessly at her body as she fell towards the raging sea.

Her body hit the icy water.

A manic cackle was the last thing she heard.
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Christie shot up in bed, the cackle echoing in her ears, sweat plastering her hair to her face and her chest heaved as she struggled to breath. A surprisingly warm hand settled on the back of her shoulder, preventing her from falling backwards off the bed and she looked up into the dark, emotionless eyes of Dwayne.

"T-thank you," she swallowed, brushing her damp hair back.

"Be more careful next time," was all he said before releasing her and disappearing towards the back of the cave. Paul and Marko appeared moments later, the latter headed over to the couch and sat down, fiddling with a handful of colourful pens as Paul grinned widely at her. She paid no attention and grabbed her towel, a spare set of clothes and wandered off, heading in the direction of the spring.

If there was one thing Christie truly hated, it was the visions. Constantly haunting her when she slept, and even when she was awake, messing up her mind and confusing the life out of her. She had a difficult time knowing what was reality and what was the visions, she couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

Eventually -she really wasn't surprised- the boys began to notice and started to pester her, wanting to know what was going on with her and why she often struck out at them by mistake. But she refused to tell them her greatest secret, the secret that ruined her childhood and made the other kids call her names like freak or witch.

"C'mon Christie!" Paul whined joining Marko on the couch and resting his legs on her lap after she returned from her alone time.

"I've already said no, so stop hounding me." Christie let out a noise of protest as Marko grabbed her arm and started drawing on her arm. She tried in vain to pull her limb from his grasp but he just tightened his grip and replaced the deep red pen with a black one.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, trying to stop herself from giggling at the feather-like touch that made her skin tingle.

"Drawing," Marko answered in a 'duh' tone.

"Why?"

"Because he's bored," Paul answered for his brother and friend, winking at Christie. She scowled at him and pulled her arm free the moment Marko was finished. The artistic vampire had drawn a red rose on her lower arm with black swirls that stretched from the petals and ended at her wrist.

"It's beautiful," she admitted as she stared at the still drying ink.

"You should get a tattoo of it," Paul input, gaining her attention.

"Really?"

"Why not?" he asked before giving her a sly smirk. "Unless you're afraid of needles?"

"Of course I'm not. I already have a tattoo," she shot back as she leaned slightly on Marko.

"Let's see it!" Marko grinned and nudged at her until she sighed and shrugged out of her leather jacket before pulling her tank top off and moving her bra strap slightly to show them the small set of wings that started in the middle of her back and stretched up to her shoulder blades, the words 'embrace your dreams' was written just above the wings.

"What are you doing?" David's cold voice washed over them and before she could move to pull her top back on, Paul turned her to show David and Dwayne the tattoo.

"Little Christie isn't a goody two shoes like we thought." He grinned at his leader.

"When did you get that?"

"For my 16th birthday...I was drunk when I got it done. My parents don't know about it."

"Ooh, you're such a bad ass," Marko cheered mockingly and Christie couldn't help but giggle at the dopey smile on his face.

"You're an idiot," she replied fondly, surprising herself as she hugged him.

"She's hugging me!" he gasped, just as surprised as her, looking towards his brothers. Christie had refused to go near any of them, always keeping her distance, so the hug she gave Marko took them all by surprise.

"Whatever," she grumbled, her cheeks burning as she stood up and pulled her shirt and jacket back on. "Are we going or what?" without waiting for a reply, she grabbed her bag and darted up the rocks, disappearing from sight.

"Well, I guess it's time to go, boys." David smirked and headed after her, his brothers hot on his heels. ________________________________________________________________________________

"I'll be back at midnight," Christie promised before David could get a word in. Her spiky, blonde haired leader nodded in satisfaction and released his grip on her arm, pushing her away from his bike.

"Wait for us, girl," Paul ordered as he and Dwayne climbed off their bikes and walked after her.

"So what? I need baby sitters now?" She huffed, glancing between them, her green eyes narrowing in disbelief.

"David's orders, sweet-cheeks."

"You two are infuriating." She spun around and her long blonde hair slapped Paul in the face, gaining a noise of protest from the male.

"The feeling is mutual," Dwayne spoke up, staring down at her as they had no trouble keeping pace with her.

"I get to be infuriating," she argued and spun around so she faced them. "I have to live with four extremely annoying guys and I never have any privacy."

"Chill out girl, you don't have anything we haven't seen before." Paul leered down at her, eyes trailing over her lithe figure.

"Ugh, you are disgusting." Christie turned away and continued walking towards the centre of the boardwalk.

"Where are you going?" Dwayne asked after a moment, his dark eyes taking in his surroundings.

"Nowhere in particular. Why?"

"Because those surf nazi's have been eyeing you up for the last five minutes."

Christie followed his gaze to a group of five males, all wearing board shorts and short sleeved t-shirts. The leader of the group had dark hair with bangs that brushed against his forehead, beautiful, icy blue eyes and was wearing a dark grey jacket with badges attached to it. The male also happened to be staring right at her, she flushed deeply as he winked and smiled before turning back to his friends.

'He's cute,' she thought, tearing her eyes away as Dwayne grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her away, Paul following quickly, whistling cheerfully.

"Stay away from those guys," Paul told her as they slowed down and eventually stopped outside of a comic book store.

"Why?" Christie asked, trying to keep the curiosity from her voice.

"Because they're not good news." Dwayne grabbed her arm tightly, his long fingers digging into her pale skin. "We better not hear that you've gone near them."

"I-I won't. I promise," her voice wavered as she tried to pry his fingers from her arm. "Let go, please."

"I don't think so."

She let out a strangled yelp as he roughly tugged her forward and she struggled uselessly against him. Paul smirked, rolling his eyes at his brothers possessive nature and turned away, intent on finding Marko and dragging him to the concert.
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Fear welled in Christie's stomach, making her feel slightly queasy and her heart thudded loudly, her pulse racing as Dwayne dragged her towards the abandoned part of the boardwalk.

"Wh-where are you taking me?" she asked desperately, hands shaking and her face contorted in fear.

"Away from prying eyes," Dwayne answered vaguely.

As the lights from the rides and the loud voices drifted into the distance, Dwayne suddenly spun her into an alleyway, slamming her against the wall. Christie gasped in surprise, her back aching and the air rushing from her lungs at the impact. Tears sprung to her green eyes, a sudden, overwhelming feeling of horror consuming her.

What if he was going to kill her? What if the others were happy about her sudden disappearance? What if she never got to see her family again, or say goodbye and I love you?

"Please...please don't hurt me."

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said huskily. "I'm just collecting what was promised to me."

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her breath hitched as he brushed her hair over one shoulder and trailing his cool fingers over her collarbone.

"I want a taste." His eyes turned a burning orange-gold colour and his teeth elongated into fangs. Christie's eyes widened in wonder, her fear dispersing as she carefully raised her hand and ran her fingers over the sharp fang.

"W...will it hurt?"

"Not if I'm careful." He smirked, though it did little to relieve her worry.

Christie gave a jerky nod of her head and hesitantly stretched her head to the side to bare her neck. She swallowed deeply as she felt his sharp fangs lightly graze her skin. Dwayne's large hand covered her mouth, muffling the pained yelp that escaped as he bit into her neck, the pain slowly morphed into a sense of pleasure that both confused and scared her.

And what's more, she couldn't understand why her body refused to fight back against him as he gulped down mouthfuls of her blood.
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Christie stumbled slightly, tripping over a can as she walked towards the rides, searching for a stall that held the ice cold drinks she so desperately craved at that moment.

She eventually found it and asked for a diet coke, and dug through her pockets, looking for change, only to discover she had no money, that David had refused to give her any and so had the other three vampires, much to her distress.

"No money, no service," the man said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Can't I pay you tomorrow?" she asked pleadingly, gazing at him imploringly. "I really need a drink."

"Are you deaf?" he demanded angrily. "I said, I won't give you the can if you don't have money."

"Hey man, chill out," a smooth voice said from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see the leader of the surf nazi's. "I'll pay for her."

"R-really?" she questioned hesitantly, people had stopped showing her kindness ever since she had joined the lost boys, they were too afraid to speak to her out of fear that they would be threatened by the top gang in Santa Carla.

"I have a thing for helping damsels in distress." He grinned wolfishly at her, and she stared transfixed as he told the man to keep the change before taking a hold of her wrist and leading her away from the stall.

"What makes you think I'm a damsel?"

"You have a certain vibe about you," he answered honestly, winking down at her. "One that suggests you are in trouble and need help."

"I can take care of myself," she told him defensively. Her fingers shook lightly as she opened the can.

"I never said you couldn't, sugar."

"What's your name?" Christie asked after a brief silence.

"Derek. Derek Kent." Derek smiled brightly at her as they sat on a bench near the comic book store she'd seen earlier. "What about you?"

"Christina." She shrugged, looking down. "Everyone calls me Christie though."

"Pretty name."

"I'm named after my mom's sister," she explained, quickly gulping down the contents of her drink.

"...What's that on your neck?" Derek asked in concern, brushing her hair aside and gently prodding the large bruise and small bite mark on the space between her neck and shoulder.

"My, uh...this guy I know got a little out of control," Christie's voice wavered, glancing around nervously, as though she expected Dwayne to suddenly appear, to accuse her of telling Derek more than she should have.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"N-no. I don't know what he is. O-our relationship is complicated but he doesn't mistreat me, if that's what you think."

"Well, if you ever need help, you can come to me." Derek didn't look convinced, as if he could sense she was lying. Christie nodded quickly, fingers curling around the bruise on her arm from where Dwayne had grabbed her too tightly.

Christie's eyes widened suddenly and she looked around worriedly, trying to find a clock in one of the shops. Derek noticed and frowned at her actions.

"What's wrong?"

"What time is it?"

"A little after midnight, why?"

"I-I'm late," she gasped, grabbing her bag and pulling the strap up to her shoulder and arranging her hair to cover the bite mark. "I have to go."

"Wait!" Derek ordered, shooting up and hurrying after her. "We've barely hung out."

"I-I can't hang out with you again," she said, prying her hand free.

"Please? I would like to get to know you," he gave her a pleading stare and she hesitated, her mind telling her to agree but her heart screaming at her to run before the guys came and found her with Derek, before she become responsible for the cruel fate of this kind stranger with beautiful eyes. She knew that the lost boys would punish her by killing Derek and she didn't want him getting hurt because of her selfishness. But looking into his eyes, her heart swelled at the warmth behind them and she knew she couldn't say no to him.

"Okay. I'll meet you by the comic book store tomorrow at noon."

"Thank you, Christie." Derek lifted her hand to his lips before pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles and releasing her.

"Goodbye, Derek." Christie smiled gently and slid her hand free, turning on her heel and running away from him.

She made it back to where the bikes were parked minutes later, only to find the four of them already waiting impatiently. She hesitated, silently wondering if she could slip away into the crowd before they could see her, but it was just her luck when Paul spotted her and he grinned widely, showing off his pearly white teeth as he raised his arm and waved at her.

"Nice of you to join us," David growled sarcastically, noting the way she jumped at his tone and taking pleasure from the fact he'd scared her. He also couldn't help but wonder what had gotten her so jumpy when she usually talked back to him and went against his orders. His curiosity died down when the wind dragged her hair away from her neck and he spotted the bite and the look of satisfaction of Dwayne's face as he too stared at the mark he'd left on her.

"Sorry, I-I was finishing my drink."

'Good going, Dwayne.' Marko told his brother telepathically. 'That's one hell of a mark you've left on her. Too bad she doesn't know that you marked her for a reason.'

'She doesn't need to know right now,' Dwayne replied with a smirk, reaching back to help the blonde girl onto his bike. The group soon took off, heading back in the direction of their home and Christie let out a small sigh, her arms secured around Dwayne's waist as she turned her head, glancing back to find Derek standing where the bikes had just been and he sent her a small smile when he noticed her looking. She returned it with a wide one of her own before turning away again.