To live another day


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Crossover Content: Mafia and The Lost Boys (1987)
Writer: /176979
Point of view: Vampire (Marko's)
  "Where is he?" It had only been thirty minutes since Marko had shown up at a rather specific location. His eyes had trailed over the front of a building that reached as high up as the sky -- it seemed out of place. Of course, he also felt out of place. It was so rare that he visited the northern side of Santa Carla. This specific side of town was where the rich families tended to live. Where local businesses that brought in a lot of revenue were located. That specific part of town was so different from the southside; where he lived. To put it into better perspective for some -- this was Max's side of town. His father's manor wasn't too far from his current location.

Back pressed against the paneling of the sky scraper, he waited and shoved both hands into the pockets of his jacket. For a while he kept his eyes downcast, the cobalt spheres focusing on nothing in particular. Now and then he'd notice a bug or something and watch it scurry along the sidewalk under the street lights. Still he remained frozen in place before taking a watch out of his jacket. Max had given it to him a long time ago. Marko couldn't even remember why it was passed on. He just knew that it was his father's, that Max told him not to lose it and to always let it tick. It seemed weird but he had shrugged all of that off a long time ago. Maybe it was cursed? The thought used to make him laugh. But for now he was glad it was ticking as he checked the time. Letting out an irate sigh he closed the watch and kicked the ground just as his hearing picked up on a car coming down the road.

Lifting his head, Marko raised a brow. Where he expected to see some common placed car, he instead took up sighting of a car ranging about $36,000. "That's him." He knew before the car even stopped infront of him. Yeah. This was his contact alright.

Walking to the edge of the sidewalk, he leaned down and came leveled with a black tinted window of the blue 1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special. Just as he lowered down enough the window itself would follow. "You could drive something less flashy, yah know?" By flashy, he meant really flashy. This was the most expensive car on the lot right now. It had only been out for maybe a month or two. That meant his contact was pretty high up on the list.

"Evening to you as well. I take it my tardiness will not prevent the deal from going through. Meetings with the industry ran late." It was the only explanation the male was going to give the blonde as he offered a faint smile while peering at him through the window. Beyond that he wouldn't give enough time for there to be an answer before pulling away and moving to park the car.

Once it was parked in the usual spot, Avery turned the engine off and exited the car; briefcase in hand. Locking it, his amythest hues came to settle on the smaller male again. "Shall we?" From the way he carried himself and the way he dressed, no one would ever guess that he was more than just a businessman. It wasn't that long ago he had come to Earth in attempts to escape a war. It hadn't been his idea to leave, but the idea of his men. They were attempting to keep him safe back then, since Avery was considered heavily important back home, and had landed on the current planet as the best viable option. But they couldn't guess back then that Avery would hit the ground running and be swept up by the underground Mafia the way he was. He had only been a kid then. Another man had found him; Kumoda.

Kumoda was not a human either. It seemed Earth was crawling with entities of all sorts. Avery himself was actually a Voridian, a black dragon; if one would. Kumoda was an Ookami Youkai; a demon of sorts. Kumoda had taken Avery up and essentially adopted him. From there Avery became plunged into the darkest depths of the mafia. Drug trades, sex trafficking rings, supernatural trafficking rings, slaughter houses, weapons trades, assassinations, -- they had even founded new drugs. To cover it all up, both father and son had become the CEO of separate major corporations. While Kumoda had his hands in things such as hospitals and hotels, his son, Avery, had dug his talons into the weapons industry and pharmaceuticals. He had even gone so far as to weaponize certain drugs for the military. He also had no favorites and was willing to sell to anyone in the world. All he wanted was the money.

"Yeah." Or that is what he would've said, if Avery had given him a minute to respond; but no. Instead he stood up straight and watched the car pulling into a nearby lot. Marko shouldn't really have been surprised that this guy was being so formal. He was in a suit for christ sakes. Atleast it's better than Max's, he'd think to himself. Max's suits were often tacky. Avery had on a pure black suit with a light purple pocket square. Marko presumed it was to compliment his hair and the eyes. To anyone who didn't know any better, they might think the guy had in contacts and fancily dyed hair. But something told the vampire that wasn't the case. Neither amythest eyes nor hair looked unnatural to him and he couldn't shake a feeling. He ignored it instead.

"You ready, or what? I've been waiting two hours and I'm not paying full price since you made me wait." Because that was how he played the game. The youth didn't give two sh*ts if Avery got upset about it or not. It wasn't as if Marko didn't have more contacts. He could just as easily run two blocks down and hit up another one. Drugs in Santa Carla were so common that one might actually question him on why he had gone to some dude in a suit.

His question seemed to make Avery chuckle. "Patience."

Anyone who knew Marko could tell there wasn't much patience to be given in his existence. When he wanted something, he often wanted it that very moment. Even his brothers had to often tell him to give them a bit to acquire something now and then. Or they'd hold out on him on purpose to try and teach him; it never worked. Not unless it was during an extremely specific moment and the thing he wanted was threatened to be taken away instead. Those were the times when he'd shut up and wait -- rare as those times were.

Eyes narrowing so that brows knit together, a snort was given. "Sure, grandpa." He had already waited for two hours beyond what he should've, the sun wasn't coming up soon, he could afford a bit longer, a couple more minutes. It wasn't to say he wasn't thankful when Avery finally started to lead him inside the building. Naturally he had only been able to follow after Avery had gestured him inside. That stupid thing about vampires not being allowed in standing true to myth. . . and yet if he couldn't follow without that in a building of business 'he lives here too'. That rule was only meant to apply to homes. The thought pulsed through his mind as he bit his tongue. What kind of guy lived and worked in the same building?

Thoughts racing in his mind, he followed the other towards an elevator. Neither of the boys seemed willing to talk or even really glance at one another as Marko peered at the dial. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. How many floors were there? Time seemed to pass slowly before a ding finally filled the elevator as he read they were on the twenty-fifth floor. "Dude, why do you have an office on the twenty-fifth floor?" That had to mean they were pretty high up; clearly. Marko wasn't sure he had ever been that high up before except when flying.

Question being ignored for a moment, Avery lead the shorter one to an office located on the right side of the hall. "I enjoy heights. It reminds me of home." No implications were given that Earth wasn't his home. Though from how he felt the vampire peering at him just moments prior, Avery already guessed the other knew he wasn't a human. "Come in." Opening the door to the office, he placed his briefcase down and headed for a large mahogany desk. "Take a seat. Relax."

It reminds me of home. 'Nope. Dude isn't human.' Curiosity confirmed as he followed the other into the office and looked around. "Holy sh*t!" Yeah, the dragon liked heights alright. Walking over to the far side of the room, Marko's eyes peered out of a pure glass wall. He could see everything from up here, from one coast down to the other. The stars were even bright up there, and the moon looked huge. Again curiosity struck as he looked down and chewed at his lower lip; tongue darting over it. Everything below them looked about as big as an ant. "Would suck if someone fell . . . you know, out." Thank god he could fly.

Those words made Avery laugh. "It has happened." The incident had been covered up before the media could hear about it though. Avery had thrown one of his men out of the window because they had lost important documents on something he was working on. "Come sit."

As if anyone wanted to hear that. Even if he could fly, Marko didn't want to think of just how someone had gone out of the window. Shouldn't it have been strong enough to keep anyone from going through it? He could think of a few reasons that such wouldn't matter. He didn't like any of them.

Moving away from the window he walked over to the desk and took a seat on the opposite side from where Avery now sat. "Did you get what I actually wanted?" He hoped so. It wasn't often he got to get the good stuff. Most of the time he and his clan had to settle for sh*t that was half rate and he needed a change. Last time he had come to this guy he had walked away with some top grade content. Such was why he was back.

"No." Before words could be spoken, a hand was raised into the air as if to stop his client before he could get upset. "My company as you know has a hand in the pharmaceutical field. I have something else for you to try. It's extremely apparent you aren't human. After our last meeting I was able to decipher that much." Going silent, he allowed a smile to grace overly angular features. Amethyst eyes pulsed under a fringe of onyx and mirroring purple. "You're a vampire, aren't you?" Avery actually hated vampires. He had never been keen about them and the war back home was against them. The scent they carried was foul and often made him want to wretch and empty his stomach of all contents. Marko had carried that scent. Yet while he hated them he didn't really desire to hurt all of them; just most. "This drug could give back what was taken from you. It is new, of course. There will be side effects. A hard come down. I estimate it will last anywhere from hours to days. It could go on for weeks if you took it often enough." Going silent, he lowered his hand finally and rested it on top of his desk. "I would test it upon myself. As I said, it is new. But. I am not a vampire, nor will my business partner allow me to test new products upon myself anymore." Rolling up the right sleeve of his suit, track marks from constant injections trailed up the pale skin of his arm. "So instead let's make a deal. Two week supply, no charge. All I want is the results documented as you go through the waves of it."

Anger and disbelief had been bubbling under the surface until that hand had been raised. Good thing, or Marko would've yelled at him. Except instead he was offered something else. Words confused him though. Something new, it could revive what was taken away? No mind was given to the hard come down. After living so long and doing so many drugs he was used to hard come downs. "Nothing was ever taken away from me."

Just as quickly as he had said those words, Avery had let out yet another throaty laugh. The sound started in his chest and radiated outwards through his maw as the faintest hint of smoke rolled off his tongue. "Your mortality. It doesn't beat anymore. The heart in your chest. It's dead. Let me give it back for a little while."

His mortality? Finally, it was Marko's turn to laugh as his head snapped back. The sound of the youths laughter filled the air while he gripped at his stomach and leaned so far back into his chair he basically fell backwards. Knees now to his chest he kicked the air and tried to calm himself down before jerking upright. "MY HEART?! DUDE! HAHAHA, THAT'S BOGUS. Yeah, alright. Give me the goods!"

There were only a few things that could make a vampire feel alive again. Max used to tell his boys many times over to never over indulge in any of those things. But sometimes it couldn't be helped and yet it was also dangerous. How could it not be? Those things were so specific. He could count them all on a single hand. First there was drugs, it gave a temporary warmth through the body and an amazing high. Followed by alcohol, which often gave them the same ups and downs it gave to humans with inhibitions falling away and the warm fuzzy pull. Then there was sex -- it was the second closest thing a vampire would ever feel to being alive again. It was why Marko relished in it. Why now and then he'd be branded a slut by his brothers; albeit in a joking term since they were all addicted to it in their own way. That didn't mean he'd run out and just f*** random entities however. Marko simply liked the heat it filled him with, the sensation of prickles on his skin, the sweat it still dragged out of him, the panting mess it left him in after. Then finally, there was blood. Blood made every nerve ending in their body light up at once. It filled them with every sensation that dying had taken away. Without any of these four things, the cold grasp of death constantly reminded him it was there. That he was dead. That he was eternal. .and that his soul would never ascend. How could a drug give back all of that?

Seemingly where Marko had gotten a thrill out of the dragons words, Avery wasn't as accepting of the vampires obnoxious laugh. Nothing would be said of the matter though as he pulled another briefcase out from under the desk. Placing it upon the solid surface, it was opened and the contents exposed. "Like most of our products, it is in liquid form. My suggestion is to inject it directly into your chest where that dormant organ resides. Wait about five minutes and it should begin to beat again." Direct application tended to often times yield the best results with their products. To some it would seem entirely out of the norm to inject a drug directly into the heart. Most only did that if they were applying Narcan -- which was used for drug overdoses. "As said, no charge. I only want to see you after." Offering a crooked smile, he closed the lid to the briefcase and passed it over. "You may keep the case if you wish."

While Avery had been speaking, Markos eyes had fallen on the contents of the case. Inside of it he noticed a vial filled with a blue liquid that was almost transparent in nature. Beside it, nestled deep within a cotton lining, rested a vacant syringe with the needle capped off for safety purposes. "Results. Got it dude." Even though just moments earlier he had been laughing at the idea of his heart beat coming back to life, Avery seemed so confident that it would actually happen. Anyone could assume that Marko was now questioning the validity of that possibility.

September of 1959 to summer of 1987 --- he was nearing thirty years of his heart not beating. Marko was internally coming up on his 46th birthday. The vampire was a libra by zodiac and it wasn't too far away. David had turned him just two weeks before he would've been nineteen. Still the number of years resounded in his head as he watched the case being closed. 'There's no way. Not after that long.' While he had never earned a college degree despite Max's best attempts to further his schooling beyond that of highschool, he knew that was right. Knew that a human heart could only be still for so long before it would never beat again.

"You should get going then. I have another client on the way here. Actually." Pausing to look at the clock, he glanced back to Marko and slowly stood up. "They should be here." Keeping appointments back to back for those who didn't enjoy the sun was favorable in his interest. It allowed him to collect more money and often times drove his clients to spread the word about his activities under the table.

Hearing the sudden dismissal he was dragged back out of his thoughts. "Another client?" That wasn't expected but he didn't skip a beat in standing up from his own chair. Flipping the lid of the case open, he took out the contents and pocketed everything. Marko figured a case would've stuck out too much for him. The kid was wearing his usual attire of custom painted boots, levi's, leather chaps, his cropped tank top, and patched up jacket. There was no way in hell a brief case wouldn't look out of the norm. Plus, Marko rode a dirt bike. How the f*** was he supposed to carry the case on that? Not like he could just bite down on the handle and carry it. Alright. He could. But that didn't settle well. So he decided to pocket it all instead. "I'm out man. See you next time!"

Words gained a brief wave as Avery led him to the door, then beyond to the elevator. Hitting the button to open the metal doors, he peered down at the curly haired blonde. "Oh, and if you happen to hear glass breaking when you're leaving ---- it's just the wind." Which was probably more so an indication to just ignore whatever he was about to hear.

"Sure man." Giving a roll of the shoulders, Marko had entered the elevator when the doors opened for him. The second they closed behind him he leaned against the wall and took the vial out of his pocket. Tilting it back and forth he watched the contents sloshing about as air bubbles shifted within. The second the elevator dinged he pocketed the drug and ran out of the building --- not before slamming into one of the idiots from a rivaling gang though. Their interaction had been short and Marko shockingly got out without a fight. He went straight for his bike after the fact though. Shortly after, he heard that noise, the sound of glass breaking, the sound of someone falling out from that upper level window and screaming on the way down. . . felt eyes on his back side as he drove off and didn't look back. 'It's just the wind.'

Speeding back to the southside of Santa Carla, Marko made quick work of getting back home. The sound of his dirt bike revved loudly as he shredded sand on the beach and darted around bonfires and people that often screamed while getting out of his way. Laughing he had to bite his lower lip to keep in a few hoots and hollers. But that fun was short lived as he parked his bike outside of Hudson's Bluff and flew down into the sunken hotel. Seeing no one else was home he crashed on one of the couches in the main lobby and pulled the drug out again.

Laying back on the couch, he kicked a leg up over the back side of it and let his other one hang off the arm rest at the other end. His line of visage shifted while his head lulled to the right side as he held the small vial out at arms length. For whatever reason, he was fascinated by the color of it. Although it was nearly fully transparent, it was pretty. "My mortality." There was no way, absolutely no way. At most he figured the drug would just give him a good high. Maybe it would be like MDMA which had been made back in 1912. Or even cocaine which had been around since roughly 1859. Those two things would be way more believable. He'd be happy if he got a trippy affect like MDMA could give where he'd want to get up and dance, f***, or talk for hours without stopping. Cocaine also gave a high but it was an entirely different high. Both were party drugs and it was safe to say he had done both before.

Pulling himself up on the couch, he took the syringe out of his jacket and started to shake the drug vial. Blunt teeth taking a hold of the plastic cap, Marko ripped it off and spit the plastic off to the side. "Sh*t." What had the dude said? Right into his heart? Nose scrunching up a bit he decided to load the syringe first. Often times there was a little trick to things like this. Marko would let a little air get into the syringe, then pop the needle into the top of the vial and draw in the liquid. This way when he went to inject it into his body, the air inside of the syringe would eject the contents faster. But first he had to strip.

Placing the now half way full vial on the ground, he also put the syringe next to it and shrugged off his jacket. Gripping the shredded hem of his white crop top tank, he pulled it up and over. Sensation of fresh air quickly washing itself over both toned and lean muscle. Even in the damp evening of the California heat he couldn't feel much of a difference with the upper part of his body now bare. Over the years he had grown used to that. Again, there were only four things that made heat apparent to him. Okay. . .he forgot one. Marko could be hurt by fire and that definitely made him hot. Just not in a good way.

Tossing the shirt on the floor he leaned back down and grabbed the syringe. Raising it up, he took the time to tap on the cylinder holding the drug and shot some from the tip of the needle to ensure there would be a smooth stream of it. Once fully satisfied with it, he stared directly at the sharp tip and inhaled a deep, albeit, unneeded breath. "Hate needles." It was the truth, shockingly enough. Marko loved biting, he loved the feeling of beating bitten, liked when teeth broke his skin . . .but needles? No. He'd even get a tattoo or run out and get a piercing before he'd take a needle for any other reason. Though right now one wouldn't know if they could see what he was doing.

Not wasting another second, he chose to violently slam the needle into his chest. There was a grimace, a pain ridden hiss that escaped the vampire as the slender piece of metal slid into his body with no issues; then he pressed down on the top and injected the drug. "Five minutes." Avery had said five minutes. So he pulled the pocket watch out of his discarded jacket again and began to keep an eye on the time.

Four minutes had passed since he had discarded the syringe somewhere in the confines of the hotel. Knowing Marko, he had probably tossed it into the empty fountain at the center of the room. Four and a half minutes and he was starting to think it wasn't going to work. Six minutes and he had begun pacing the lobby. Eight minutes -- he hit the floor. Knees collided with shabby hotel floorboards as wood splintered under him. But it wasn't the pain in his knees making him gasp as a hand shot up to his chest; talons digging into the skin. Something else was starting to hurt as it felt like the muscles were tensing up within his chest. Less than another moment later it felt like a palpitation had ripped through him causing him to cry out. It felt like the muscles had tensed up, jolted, then relaxed. . .and after relaxing there was suddenly a soft thrumming in his ears again. At first he paid no mind to it. But over the following few seconds it started to get louder and louder. A heart beat.

To say utter confusion wouldn't flood the mind when one had gone almost thirty years without a heart beat, to suddenly have one, would be foolish. To think that one wouldn't have a sudden sense of fear -- such a universal emotion -- would be idiotic. Marko had both. But it wasn't caused by the simple sound of blood rushing through his ears again. It was caused by so much more as a now broken watch fell out of his hand and clattered to the floor.

"T-there's no way... It's not..." It wasn't possible, shouldn't have been possible. He thought it was a ploy. Gripping the side of his head he felt so many sensations suddenly starting to hit him at once. The feeling of a heart beat, the sound of blood in his ears, heat, he could feel the sudden dread of the Cali heat even during the late night hours, and the scent within the sunken hotel started to make him feel repulsed.

Getting to his feet, he kept that hand on his head and stumbled towards the entrance of the hotel. Despite all of these sensations hitting him so suddenly he was still lost in a state of confusion. But the fear was slowly starting to mount as it set in more and more that his heart beat was back. "Sh*t. sh*t. sh*t. sh*t!" If his heart was beating again. . .how would his brothers respond? What had he done? Was he even a vampire anymore? "DAV----" He couldn't call out. As much as he suddenly wanted to, he couldn't. Seemingly it was a good thing he had silenced himself so suddenly even though the confusion was spilling over into tears in his eyes. Eyes which were no longer so vacant of color. True, Marko had eyes of a rather vibrant blue. But over the past couple of decades, there had once been another color in them that had died over time.

When David had first found him, when he had first been pulled to the golden haired little blonde, Marko had sported eyes of blue with green specks. It had only added to the over all innocent features of the kid. Yeah, he had been in a gang, he had been a bad boy in his town, he had been . . .a delinquent. All of that was aside from working as a mechanic of course. But those stupid wide eyes and his boyish features also gave him an air of innocence that no level of criminal activity could ever strip away. Having his heart beat back apparently somehow revived even those streaks of green to resurface. But he'd never know that and he sure as hell wasn't going to stay out in the open for the others to learn it.

He was glad he had stopped midway through his sires name. Because the sound of dirt bikes quickly approaching caught his attention. It threw him into a panic as he ran for the back of the hotel. In the back through a long system of tunnels, the boys still had rooms they sometimes vanished to. He was so thankful for them. Judging by how quickly he moved, he still had his speed too. Judging from how he could smell the scent of fresh blood in the air with his brothers coming home, and by how his jaw suddenly started to ache, he still had his fangs. He was still a vampire.

Three days passed from that moment. During those three days, Marko hadn't left his room except once. The pull between a sire and their sired was strong. It was strong enough that in his state of fear and panic, Marko had chanced to leave his room just long enough to grab something of his sires; a shirt. Foolish as it may seem, having it with him calmed him a bit. Well, if having it with him meant stripping his own typical white for the black. Marko was wearing the stupid thing. It was the only way he'd find a damned since of comfort without running to his sire and begging for help, or forgiveness. . .or whatever else came out of him first. The brat was stubborn just like the vampire that had turned him.

For now, he was still affected by the drug so he didn't want David to know. Marko was also still feeling the tug of a natural vampire where he needed to feed. He had tested that actually. Yes, his skin was heated up again, Marko had felt himself blush for the first time in ages when he pulled his sires shirt on, he had somewhat figured out his eye color had returned. . he had a minor reflection back and had caught it on the knives that littered his place. But, he also still had his fangs, he could still shift into a more primal state, eyes still shot outwards with a starburst formation in the colors of gold and crimson, he still needed to feed - god he was getting hungry. That hunger also often boiled over into a need for sex when he had gone too long without slating his thirst. But he couldn't go to David. He was too afraid.

It all boiled into the fourth night where he started to cry and puke up some sort of purple bile. He presumed it was the drug leaving his body. It was uncertain why it had changed from blue to purple though. Or how it had gone from his blood stream to his stomach in order to be puked up. During all of the puking it felt like he was going through heart palpitations again. The process of his heart dying for a second time in his life was starting. He wished he could forget this pain like the first round of it in his life. Marko barely had any memories of the night he was turned by David. Was this what it had felt like as he laid curled up on the floor, sobbing, clawing at the floor boards, and his own chest? It hurt and he could barely catch his breath between pathetic sobs. He had the sudden instinct to inject more of the drug into his chest to stop the pain and re-up. In the end it was what he chose to do as he pulled a small drawer of needles out and shakily filled one. Pulling the shirt up he had injected it quickly and felt the drug hit his system in a matter of seconds this time.

Another night went by and now he was feeling fine. But concern started to set itself into his mind instead. Marko had resorted to pacing on this day. He couldn't stay in his room for much longer. The hunger for blood, though much less than it should've been without him having ate in five days now, was starting to gnaw at him. He didn't even really sense David drawing closer until the elder was practically right outside his door. That threw him into a newly found panic as eyes widened. "Sh*t! No. No. No. Not right now!" But he had no way out of the room or past the elder vampire.

It wasn't but a short moment later that David kicked the door to his room open, he often did that when heavily irritated. Apparently he had had enough of the smaller one hiding.