Chapter Text
Eddie was bored as he slowly walked along the aisle of the carousel. The calliope music played merrily around him, but he ignored it in favor of glancing at the other riders in a disinterested manner. They all stared at him, though, watching him grip each horse’s pole, lazily leaning on one before moving onto another. He appeared strange among all the bright lights and thinly-dressed tourists as he instead wore all black from his leather jacket to his ripped jeans.
No one here looked particularly appetizing, Eddie thought, and some even looked as if they’d give him an outright stomach ache. He wanted something new, something fresh, something that he couldn’t get here. Despite all the tourists around, none of them fit the bill. It was frustrating, to say the least, and his teeth itched to bite into some fresh meat.
A girl made eye contact with him as he passed the seated bench on the carousel. She gave him a flirty smile. He thought she looked disgusting, but she was better than nothing, so he leaned in to give her a sultry grin back. However, the girl’s boyfriend noticed their movements and stopped talking to the other gang members behind him to turn his full attention to Eddie.
The boyfriend, of course, decided to pick a fight with Eddie, so he reached over the girl to give him a shove. Eddie laughed, letting the guy shove him, before he pushed back with more force. That angered the rest of the gang members, and they stood up to try to intimidate Eddie, except Eddie had his own crew, Corroded Coffin, who grabbed some of the unruly members from behind to hold them back.
Looking at the other members, Jeff had grabbed the largest guy of the group. Jeff himself wasn’t intimidating, despite being dressed in all black with his leather jacket splayed open with nothing underneath beneath besides a woven kelp necklace, but he was strong, which was all he needed to be imposing. Gareth stood and blocked the guys on the second bench from reaching Eddie. They grabbed onto Gareth’s battered, brown leather jacket and tried to move him by force, only they couldn’t move the other boy even though he was half their height. Grant stood in the path of the rest of the other crew. He gripped the poles of two horses lazily, looking bored in his black jacket and mesh top combo, not seeming to feel the angry beatings being delivered to him by the irate opposing gang members.
Eddie would’ve shown the asshole how hard he could really shove him, but a baton suddenly pressed against his neck. He didn’t have to look who it was since he knew right away that it was that bastard security guard that had been on his case lately. The security guard was on some kind of crusade to make the boardwalk family-friendly again, which meant the permanent eviction of Eddie and his crew.
“I told you to stay off the boardwalk,” the guard growled into Eddie’s ear.
Snorting, Eddie pushed the guard off him, but still turned to leave once the carousel stopped. He supposed that settled dinner. A laugh bubbled from Eddie’s mouth, while thinking that he hoped the guard wouldn’t be too uncooperative when he received his “invitation” to the meal. Eddie planned to make him their guest of honor, after all.
Sending the special “invite” to the guard wasn’t much trouble for Eddie and the others in his crew. They made their way underneath the boardwalk, each lighting a cigarette as they waited for the park to close. It wasn’t a long, maybe an hour or two, before guests started filing out into the parking lot, finding their cars, and driving away without paying any heed to the member of Corroded Coffin who lurked in the shadows nearby.
Lights shut off one by one as the rides powered down, going dark for the rest of the evening. The parking lot eventually only the glow of the dim streetlamps illuminating the area around them and the sole car remained. Eddie motioned to the others, signaling them to head back so he could hand the invitation to the guard himself. They all gave him a knowing grin and shared a laugh before they left to take their positions.
Eddie watched from his hiding place as the guard exited the boardwalk with a lunch pail swinging from his hand at his side. There was no hint of caution or fear as the guard walked towards his car, confident in his ability to keep the park safe from hooligans like Eddie. This made Eddie laugh, which caused the guard to pause and look around. When he didn’t see anyone, he continued walking to his car, though a bit more cautiously. They always tasted better if they were at least a little bit afraid.
Once the guard had nearly made it to his car, Eddie left his hiding spot. He moved with lightning speed, one second standing out of sight behind a pillar, then the next, he was behind the guard who hadn’t heard anything as he reached into his pocket to pull out his car keys. Eddie held up his hand, focusing as crimson and white spines rose along the length of his arm. He turned his arm and pricked the guard’s neck in a similar fashion to how he had grabbed Eddie with his baton, though Eddie’s spines were a bit more deadly.
“Hey there,” he said, watching the guard’s eyes bulge as the venom coursed through him. “Just want to say thanks for accepting the dinner invitation. We’re all honestly delighted you could join us.”
Eddie gave the guard a wide grin before he picked the rotund man up by his collar and easily tossed him into the ocean depths. Three pairs of webbed hands rose up from the water, gripping the body of the guard before dragging him under. Slowly, Eddie walked towards the water, growing more scales the further he went into the surf. He eventually disappeared, diving deep below, and a pool of red blood dyed the area around where he had vanished.
“The body of a local boardwalk security guard was found washed up on the beach early this morning,” the reporter on the radio said. “Severely mauled and drained of all blood, this is the seventh case like this in the area. Police are cautioning-”
Steve reached forward and flipped the channel of his car’s radio to a different station, causing “Every Breath You Take” to melodiously cut the newscaster’s report short. While it was upsetting that a man had been found dead, he didn’t need his mood brought down by events that didn’t affect him. Maybe that was callous of him, but he felt that he needed his wits about him as he was driving down this California back-road to meet his parents at their summer beach house.
Usually, his parents forced him to remain at their home in Indiana whenever they were away on a business trip, but this time they decided that Steve should come along. He was getting old enough that he’d soon be entering the company since he had recently graduated from college, so they felt he needed to learn what that entailed. Not that Steve actually was going to try to learn anything, it was just that he’d never been allowed to go on vacation before and wanted to soak up a bit of sun before he was forced to return to his dull life in the Midwest.
Though Steve didn’t think they’d notice that he was goofing off, since his parents were a bit flaky and self-centered. Like he had thought that he’d be taking the plane with them when they’d invited him along, except the day before they were meant to leave, his parents told him that they hadn’t got a ticket for him and thought it would be better if he drove to the summer house instead. Steve hadn’t started working yet, leaving him with no choice in the matter and forced him to have to obey their whims.
Steve did enjoy the drive to California, but ultimately, he was left feeling lonely. He’d been left alone with his thoughts whenever he didn’t have the radio playing to drown them out, reminding him that he didn’t have anyone. All of his friends sucked because they were more like business associates due to them being picked out by his father, and his extended family were like his parents, busy with their own lives to care about anyone else. Everyone was too caught up in themselves to give a shit about him, and Steve would be lying if he said that it didn’t hurt.
A few more minutes of self-pity passed before the beach house was in sight. It stood there in all its square glory, looking more like a cement parking structure than a beach house. Since the property was private, there wasn’t any other house in sight, leaving the home as a dull silhouette against a background of the vibrant blue ocean and golden sand. The long driveway was empty and so was the expansive garage when Steve parked his car in it.
Getting out of the car, Steve got his duffel bag out of the trunk and slung it over his shoulder before he walked into the unlocked house. He took in the vast living room with its white, marble tiled floor and the expansive, mauve sectional arranged around a large fireplace with a grand piano pushed into the far corner. Steve used to play when he was younger, making him almost wonder if they had put it there for him, but he knew it was more likely for show and that he would be chastised if he even so much as thought of tapping a single one of the ivory keys. There was also a bar situated in the back of the room, and strangely, his mother wasn’t slumped over it, day-drunk after enjoying a full bottle of chardonnay.
Steve walked further into the beach house until he reached the long, glass staircase and noticed a notepad with writing on it sitting next to the phone. He picked up the notepad, eyes scanning the words telling him that his parents wouldn’t be joining him as they’d decided to stay at the hotel where the business meeting was being held for convenience. It wasn’t even written by his parents as Steve recognized the writing of their shared assistant from every late birthday and Christmas card he’d received over the years.
Casual acceptance overcame Steve as he wished he could be angry or disappointed, but this was so typical of them that he was barely surprised. In fact, he felt a little foolish for not expecting to find this note from the start. His parents had always viewed him as more of a doll that they could use how they wanted than a living, breathing person, then once they were done with him, they’d discard him without a second thought.
The loneliness that he had previously been feeling came back tenfold, and Steve felt that the house was too suffocating, despite its large size. He could go out to the beach to escape the feeling as his swim trunks were in the duffel bag he was carrying, but there wasn’t anyone there given that this was private property. What he wanted was noise along with the physical presence of others milling around him to fill the void temporarily inside him.
Steve’s mind went back to the news report that mentioned the boardwalk. There was no mention of the murder taking place on the boardwalk itself, only that a security guard that worked there had been killed, so he bet that it’d still be crowded with fellow tourists like himself. Also, the guy was probably eaten by a shark or something, which couldn’t walk on dry land, meaning that he’d be completely safe as long as he didn’t get in the water.
With his decision made, Steve put down his duffel bag near the base of the stairs then headed back out the door to his car. He was actually a little excited as he’d never been on an ocean boardwalk and thought it would be a fun experience. Even if it wasn’t, at least he could say that he tried it before he eventually went back to boring Indiana.
The drive to the boardwalk took longer than Steve expected since there was no direct outlet from their private beach house, and the boardwalk was a bit further down the beach than Steve had anticipated. Because of this, it was nightfall when he arrived, but he supposed that didn’t matter as there was no one waiting for him at home. Night. Also, seemed to be the time when the most people visited, given that the lot was packed with barely any open spaces.
Steve noticed that most of the tourists were heading up the walkway towards the amusement park on the pier, but there were others dressed in heavy chains and black leather were heading towards the beach. He could hear muffled music in the distance, so Steve curiously got out of his car, only to be assaulted with loud screaming accompanied by blaring guitars. Covering his ears, he knew he should walk away from the sounds making his eardrums ache, except his feet began moving in the direction of the beach before he could stop them.
Throngs of people moved their heads, tossing their hair as they danced to the music. Steve made his way through them until he reached the makeshift bandstand at the edge of the water. A group of four men stood atop it while fires blazed on both sides of the stage, giving the venue a devilish atmosphere. They played their instruments with such passion and vigor, that Steve couldn’t stop himself from becoming enthralled, especially the lead singer in the center of it all.
Strumming wildly, the lead singer screamed into the microphone as his long, curly hair spilled down his back in untamed waves. Steve pushed through the crowd to get closer to the man, unable to take his eyes off him. The singer looked so free and unrestrained, and Steve couldn’t help but wonder what that felt like as his parents micromanaged his life, wanting to make certain that he followed their plans for him perfectly.
The singer seemed to sense Steve’s eyes on him as his gaze flickered from the crowd down to Steve. A devilish grin passed over the other man’s face before he winked in a clearly flirtatious way. Heat filled Steve’s cheeks while his stomach flipped. He’d been on the receiving end of such advances previously, but they never made him feel quite as warm or enraptured in the same way as the singer did as he began to play as if directly to Steve, seducing him from afar.
Steve wasn’t certain what would happen if he stayed until the end, though it didn’t seem as if he was going to find out as a meaty hand gripped his shoulder and a thinner man stepped in front of him, blocking Steve’s view of the stage. It was then that he realized that he’d been surrounded by a gang of several men, dressed similarly to the ones on stage except they didn’t look as dashing, especially when compared to the lead singer.
“You lost, little tourist?” the thinner man asked. “We don’t accept preps on our beach.”
Glancing down, Steve didn’t think he was dressed particularly preppy. He only had on a loose, blue-and-white-striped polo with the collar open, not wanting to feel too restricted as he drove. His jeans were a light blue acid wash that were a bit old and a little snug, though that made them good for being on the road since he’d broken them in already. Maybe his watch was a little preppy with its brown strap and gold dial, but that was a gift from his grandpa, who had given it to him shortly before he passed.
“I didn’t see a sign,” Steve replied, jerking his shoulder out of the goon’s weighty grip.
“There doesn’t need to be a sign. It’s clearly implied that we rule the beach and squares like you stay up on the pier unless you want to pay the toll.”
“Pay the toll? Like you want money or something?”
“Nah, we don’t want your cash. We just want to see you bleed a little bit. That’s all.”
“Oh, that’s all. Why didn’t you say so?” Steve squared up his shoulders. “You first.”
A quick jab from Steve’s fist took the thin man by surprise, allowing Steve to duck under the arm of the gang’s muscle, so he could begin pushing his way through the crowd. However, he was swimming against the current as the concert-goers wanted to be closer to the stage, while Steve wanted to go in the opposite direction, towards the parking lot. He could also see the others in the gang doing the same, only quicker as they were roughly shoving people out of their way in order to continue their pursuit of Steve.
Bodies continued to bump into Steve until he finally reached the back of the crowd, which was a bit looser than in the front. He slipped through them, but it was too late. The others of the gang had caught up with him and shoved him down onto the ground, into the coarse sand. They approached slowly, looming over him with menacing grins.
Grabbing Steve by his hair, the muscle pulled Steve up until he was on his knees. Some sand had gotten into Steve’s mouth, so when the thinner man approached, Steve made certain to spit it out at the other’s face. It was a direct hit, causing the gang leader to sputter and blanch while he wiped the spittle off his face.
The thinner man gripped Steve’s shirt and growled. “You’re going to regret you did that.”
“I don’t see why you’re so upset,” Steve said. “The spit was an improvement compared to the shitshow that’s typically your face.”
Laughing, the thinner man replied, “What about this, funny guy? Think this is funny?” He then punched Steve hard in the mouth and kept punching Steve, wanting to inflict as much damage as possible. More laughter sprung from the thin man, who seemed to be enjoying the way he was making Steve bleed, getting a sick pleasure as Steve’s lip split open and his nose steadily bled.
The thinner man pulled back his arm to hit Steve again, only for his wrist to be caught by a pale, slender hand. Silver rings dug deeply into the other man’s skin as a deep, hoarse voice then said coldly, “I should slit your fucking throat for trying to ruin such a pretty face like his.”