A Different Kind of Love

***Davids PoV***

He glances up as Michael enters the main part of the Cave. He had been feeling intense anger from his new fledgling for near an hour, thought he could guess why without dipping into the others mind to find out... Max had paid them a visit not to long before Michael had showed back up from his little trip to see his mortal family. While it was inadvisable for Michael to be so close and personal to the mortals that where his family, Michael had enough sense to not over do it, so he'd allow Michael this. Also as he knew it would, it made Michael less edgy around him since he wouldn't deny Michael it or harm the mortal family for it. Build a little trust, make for small allowances and those walls will crumble soon enough. Time, he has enough time to achieve what he wants, even if he didn't like having to be patient.

" Something bothering you, Michael?" He gives Michael his full attention eyes on him, Michael coarse gives him that don't fuck with me challenging stare. He ignores it, anyone else where to look him in the eyes, he'd have ripped their face off, but it only makes him smirk. Though Michael couldn't beat him in a fight, the fledgling was quite strong physically, stronger than most fledglings, due likely to his weight lifting as a human. He liked the challenge Michael presented. Oh Michael, you are going to be so much fun. Now if only you would loosen up enough to let that stick fall out of your ass.

" What? No.. Yes." Michael has something on his mind, that is obvious." What do you know about hell dogs?"

That was an interesting question, conversation starter? Not that it matters, he already knows what is on Michaels' mind, but his smirk turns into a pleasant smile if a bit unnerving one. Michael was new to this and weary and would of coarse have to come to him for anything he needed to know that didn't come with instinct, this pleased him and he made sure to address Michael soon as he entered the cave so that Michael would have to focus on him. We wouldn't want you to try and ask one of the others about what is on your mind now would we Michael? Coarse he would act as if he knew nothing of what Michael was thinking, why spoil the fun, Michael will just eventually come out with it, he's practically dieing with the need to know.

" Now why would you ask a thing like that? And where did you learn about hell dogs?" He pulls out a cigarette and lights it up, never taking his eyes off Michael. He would appear to be seemingly waiting patiently for Michaels' answer. The sound of Paul trying to hide a snicker came from his left, likely getting a kick out of the charade he was playing with their newest member.

" Umm." Michael furrows his brows trying to figure out how to bring the subject of Max up.

Chuckles as he takes a drag from the cigarette. Oh Michael, you are just to blunt to come up with a reasonable way to say what you want, aren't you? The sooner you blurt it out, the sooner you can get your answers. " What's on your mind Michael? Night's not getting any younger." As fun as watching Michael squirm with being on the spot trying to figure out how to address his little issue, it really was starting to get late for us, a little prompting to get Michael to talk was needed.

" It's about Max... who has a dog. Can't really say how I know, just someone mentioned it and he's been going out with my Mom..." Michael trials off, coarse he wouldn't mention Sam as the source of his knowledge on the dog, ever the protective big brother.

" Oh, Max?." Leans forward as if this was the most interesting subject he has ever herd." We know Max don't we boys?" Paul and Marko laugh, Paul giving a bob of his head. Dwayne doesn't take his attention from whatever book he's pilfered from who knows where, but a scowl is present on his face, making it obvious he wasn't fond of the Max topic.

" Couldn't be a nicer guy." The sarcasm coated his words like an oil slick, he followed it by a low laugh. Max, now there was someone he lost no love on. Max out lasted his usefulness and, well Max was hardly sane, but sanity seems to be sparse in Maxs' family.

" Uh , yea, Max, why does he want my mom and is there a way to make him not interested in her?" Michael was starting to get comfortable with the subject and starts to relax, though slightly, when it seemed they weren't fond of Max either.

" He wants to get your mom in his bed and do nasty, nasty things to her, why do you think he wants her Michael?" Another puff on the cigarette, it was a habit, not that he could get addicted like a mortal, their bodies only had one addiction. He just liked the feel and look of the smoke and it was an old habit he picked up as a mortal and never felt need to quit, not like it would kill him. " Only way to deter him from your mom is if he gets a fat stake where his heart should be..." Michael ignored his remark to do about what Max wants to do to his the mom, but he knew it had grated the other boys' nerves.

" Nah, stake won't work! He keeps it in a jar! On a bed side table! " Paul, one who couldn't resist some snappy joke. Both Paul and Marko laugh, he only smirks, Dwayne just shakes his head as he turns a page in that book.

" That would make him one heartless bastard." Marko deciding to add an insult to the joke to show their love for their deranged self proclaimed father, which Paul nodded in agreement with a wide grin stretched across his face.

" As I was saying only way to stop him is to stake him. As for the hell dog, they aren't easy to kill, only guarantee is killing it's master.. Fun hu?." His smirk broadens seeing Michael trying to mull this information over and surprise on his fledglings face at how willingly he was providing information. This was a win, win for him, get Michaels' trust and maybe gratitude, with the bonus of if that little brother of Michaels' can pull off this little stunt, they'll no longer have Max trying to control them and no more cleaning up Maxs' mess when his attempts fail. The Boys where his, always have been, not their deceased sires and certainly not Maxs' no matter how delusional the old bastard was thinking they belong to him. "To get to the Master you have to kill the dog, to kill the dog you have to get to the master. Don't you just love Conundrums?" His laugh came off a bit sardonic, but Michael had caught on. Sure Michael wasn't much on the using his brains part, but neither was he stupid.

" Why do you hate Max? Can't be for same reason as me, what is he to you?" Oh now isn't Michael getting curious.

"You mean what he is to us, you're one of us now... And what he is, is the Master Vampire over Santa Carla. He's old and powerful, but worse he's insane. It seems genetic. He sired our sire who was his younger brother." With that he gives a gesture to himself and the other boys. " Though our sire met an untimely end shortly after siring us." He couldn't help but laugh, they all did, even Dwayne.

Michael was one of the boys now, so it wouldn't hurt to give him a quick history lesson as their Problems with Max started with their sire.

" The boys and I ran together doing what we could to survive before we met our sire. We didn't like hurting people, intimidation and threat was enough to earn our keep. There actually was five us to start, Jesse met his end when the hotel collapsed from the quake. It was early evening, we were newly turned." Loosing Jesse was still a sore spot for them even after all this time, so he wasn't going to give much detail about Jesse and what happened with that, sides it wasn't relevant.

"The man, Maxs' brother who sired us didn't give any of us a choice in the matter. He wanted to use us, have us turn as many people as possible, we where to be his willing soldiers and pawns. I wasn't going to go for that, nor the boys. I told him what I thought of his little plan and what I thought of him." snorts "Our loving sire decided he would kill me when I refused his psychotic wish to take over the world with making a vampire army, he wanted to use us, split us up to go around making an army... Completely insane and hated humans with a passion, wanted to eradicate humanity and make a world of vampires. He didn't like my objections to his plans. Or being called insane, but what the hell would we feed on if there's no humans? So luck would have it that the big one hit, drove the hotel under ground with us in it and with the quake he had a nice little happy accident. It served us for Max to think humans killed him."

" Max decided to adopt us "orphans", remarking how he taught his brother everything he knew, but knew humans would be his bothers down fall." smirk." So it was beneficial to get all we needed out of Max and then go on our little way to leave him behind, only one problem. Max has this little idea in his head that we really are like some family and we are like his kids. We didn't care for that, I didn't need parents to take care of me as a mortal, sure as hell don't need Max. It would been ignorable if he wasn't trying to force his insanity on us.

" We're meant to be free, meant to be outside mortal laws and restrictions, we don't even think in the same way as humans, we pack and have instincts and are superior to humans, but explaining this to Max is impossible, he irrationally thinks we can all live as this perfect family, try to push us to act like we are his loving sons and act "civilized" and sophisticated little gentlemen that follow human ethics and values and laws. He even tried getting me to call him father. I'd rather have sliced my tongue out with a dull razor than call him that." He sneers.

"Max though other than just wanting to force your mom as his mate, just wants to use your mom as a way to control us, sire her, subdue her and control her so that she helps him try to control us to enforce his delusional view of a perfect immortal family. We're not human, I've tried telling Max that, that he can't expect us to play like a bunch of mortals living a fairy tale life. Max won't get it in his head, just like his brother, so we started letting him know our displeasure at his thinking he could make us be his perfect little family, that's when he got this crazy notion that we need a mother. Your mom isn't the first and if things go his way, she'll not be the last. He has this blind vision of this perfect life. He even has a damned white picked fence around that bloody house of his. Not everyone can handle the change and the type Max goes after can't handle it. He likes to target caring mothers that dote on children and have an innocence about them."

Pause... He smelled an opportunity to sugar coat his trickery to turn Michael, Michael's being quite and actually listening and even had taken a seat across from him on the ruined fountain. This was perfect." He planned to turn you and your brother himself, I saw you first and couldn't let you go to waste under his delusional mind once I knew his plan, he'd have damaged you, oppressed you and controlled you, make you play the loving son his delusional mind wants. It's always the same, he tries to give the woman the choice except it's not really a choice because he turns the kids forcing the mother to have to choose him or loose her children.. It doesn't matter who or the age of the children to him." This had the effect he was hoping for, Michaels' thoughts seemed to accept the implied idea that he had turned Michael to spare him worse from Max. Michael doesn't have to know he'd have turned him Max or no Max. It also gave Michael more things to hate about Max.

" Wait, what about Sam? He's going to try and turn him?" Michael didn't like that one bit.

" Well Between you and little Samuel, his plans aren't going as he expected." Another round of laughs. He smirks." He wasn't to happy seeing you turned when he had planned to, without the direct sire fledgling link, he can't keep track of you, nor can he easily try to draw you to him and that piss's him off to no end. Your little brother and his little wannabe hunter friends had really thrown him off and the only time he could get you and Sam in the same room with Sam not trying to choke him to death with garlic..."

"His head look ready to explode when he showed up to grill David about what happened to you." Marco commenting this time, Paul starts cackling.

" Or splashing holy water on him, then tonight he finds out you are already turned and that he couldn't try to sneak his blood to Samuel with you staring bloody murder at him all night."

Paul and Marko laugh, Dwayne chuckles.

" Ah! Yea about that, how did Max not react? Is it something master vampires can do?" Michael leaned forward a little, more an unconscious action than him wanting to make sure he hears what is said.

" Someone invited him in, only a resident, one still with humanity can render humans useless against a vampire in their own home. Once invited only thing that will have any effect is fire, sunlight and decapitation."

" Oh." Michael was now grinding his teeth, angry it seemed with him self since he had been the sucker that invited Max in, though Michael didn't know any better at the time, the knowledge now still would make it sting and Michael wasn't good at hiding that little fact.

"Laddie's a product of one of his failed attempts. Star thinks Laddie still has a family, he does, a father a few cities over. Laddies' mother committed suicide and tried to kill Laddie when she realized what was happening she couldn't handle it. Laddie though barely remembers anything and doesn't know what really happened to his mom."

"Laddie came from Maxs' failed experiment. Did star?" Michael was bound to ask this question after what he said about Laddie.

" No. Star was mine. Unfortunately." He wasn't going to hide his distaste for the girl, it wasn't personal, or maybe it was, but she had grated his nerves to no end. He wasn't fond of weakness in someone even if female and the poor me I'm a half vampire against my will routine was getting damned well old. Star was no innocent.

" I found her on the beach, another drifter, runaway, what ever. Brought her here, gave her the run of the place, tried to make her one of us. She willingly took the bottle I offered and drank and she might tell you how we picked her off the beach and tricked her, but she leaves out the part that she actually had an idea what we were, gypsy girl who was warned to stay away from us, that we are blood drinkers, she had a little fit with her family and how they wanted her to live and decided to run away out to the beach and nearly jumped at the chance to be taken away."

" Only she decided she didn't like it once she realized what it truly was." Sneers." I wonder what she thought it was that blood drinkers do? Suck carrots and sing happy songs around a camp fire?" Oh Star did have her use though, it would been so much harder to get you here now wouldn't it Michael without her as motivation. He almost could thank her, almost for the fact she freaked out and dumped Michael because Michael wasn't the knight she thought, Able to resist for her and save her.

She had dumped Michael for not being the fairly tale hero come to save her, leaving Michael to need a friend to talk to, which so happened that night the boys conveniently where out... At his orders of coarse, leaving him the only one Michael could talk to, to be comforted after learning Star wanted a knight in shining armor to fight for her, not him. Even if she might not truly feel that way, it didn't hurt to crush any notions Michael may have at trying to kindle any relationship with star, especially if by some freak act Star becomes full vampire. Michael is his, not Stars, no one can have Michael, Michael just hasn't realized this yet and no one's going to come between him and who he claims and take them from him. It's just a matter of time and some work to get Michael on the same page as him.

" Star wasn't completely tricked, she came into this with some idea of what we are. Now normally I'll test the one we plan to initiate, as I did with you, to ensure they really could handle what was coming and how strong their will to survive is... Star though said she knew what we are and then even went as far as to want it if it meant escape from her oppressive gypsies family. She seemed to have a strong will. If she wanted it, then she could handle it right? So I turned her." Oh yes it was his mistake, but he'll never actually say it out loud that he made a mistake, no matter the truth of the matter. This was as close as he'd get to admitting he fucked up. Also a lesson learned, he's going to stick to testing any potential members no matter the circumstances.

" She wanted this?" Oh this is good, Michaels' anger at Stars rejection resurfaces, good, stay angry at her." I didn't want it, I didn't know what I was doing or what would happen, but she knew, she never said anything to me and when I asked her about this and she wouldn't talk."

Ah, typical, Michael is male, naturally he'd have thought: But the sex was great. Though Michael and Star in the bed was far better than the rampant thoughts he got from his fledgling the morning he came back as a full member. They had welcomed him showed him where and how to sleep. He naturally dug into Michaels' mind to know what was going on in it and all that happened. Michael was right, he wouldn't have taken that insult to well, he would have ripped that Surf Nazis' tongue out and choked him on it while draining him. He delighted in the viciousness in which Michael retaliated, however he regretted digging deeper as he got to know Michaels' little brother just a little to personally. He wasn't sure if he had wanted to laugh or block out that image altogether and hope to not see it again... A love of a different kind indeed, kid.

It was the first time he had actual trouble keeping a straight face and that was a feat, though even he had to admit finding a family member going at it with the dog on the floor would be shocking. Nothing gets to him, he won't let it, mortal folly to care about the pathetic opinions of those who are beneath you, unless they are stupid enough to insult one of us to our faces, then we find them latter. first time for everything. He'll just have to be careful about dipping into Samuals' mind if he ever is close enough.

"Don't worry about her, she is fickle and not worth it, you look stressed." He gives Michael that cold smile of his and pulls out a joint from inside his coat." Here this will relax you." waits for Michael to take the joint, which Michael does with only slight hesitation," Oh another thing about the hell dog, it is still a dog and just as stupid, it will attack anything that could endanger it's master. The little flaw with hell dogs, they will ignore everything else to kill the object of threat, regardless of if it's behind a barrier or in something, it'll keep going till its dead or out of sight unless its master commands it to stop. Wouldn't be to hard for someone to make it go after something, while someone sneaks past it, maybe even get it to follow that someone out the gate."

" Thanks." Michael looked like he wasn't sure what to think of the little assistance in the removal of Max, but the boy disappeared towards the sleeping area, apparently ready to rest. They wouldn't be long in joining.

Clasps his hands together after Michael is out of sight." Well boys, looks like our little problem with Max may yet be solved." It had been a pain in the ass trying to figure out how to remove Max ever since he forbade them to go near his store and started with this need to get them a mother. Max didn't trust them, he knew they where tired of his attempts to force them into some sitcom like family lifestyle as if they where really human. They still showed up till he told them to get out, it was worth it to see Max unravel even a tiny bit.

Now they had a way to remove Max. They couldn't, Max was to powerful for them to attack directly and he was never without that dog who warns Max before they would be able to even catch him by surprise, not that Max wouldn't sense them anyway, but the kid Samuel and his little idiot friends can go out in the day when Max would be vulnerable. Even if Max woke... He lets out an unpleasant laugh, the others join in knowing just what he was thinking." Ah the pitfalls of trying to live like a human. With all those lovely windows."

Ah seems Star's finally coming back, probably had waited somewhere till last minute. Star had taken Laddie and ran out when the enraged Max had showed up. Star has no clue who Max is, not that he cares. The fact that Star was scared shit-less and wanted to leave was amusing, Star always comes back though, never stays gone. He stood, it was time to rest and he had no interest in talking to Star, not right at dawn.