The boardwalk felt louder tonight. Music thumped from somewhere near the pier, neon lights buzzing overhead, laughter spilling into the night like it didn’t know how fragile it all was. You moved through it slowly, hands tucked into the pockets of your jacket, letting the noise wash over you.

You could hear everything. Heartbeats. Footsteps. Breath. Life. You hadn’t fed yet. Not because you were afraid — but because once you did, there would be no going back. No pretending you were still standing on the edge of something instead of falling straight into it.

Behind you, near the bikes, the boys watched. David leaned against his handlebars, eyes tracking your movement with lazy confidence. Dwayne stood beside him, arms crossed, gaze sharp and steady. Paul and Marko joked quietly, but their attention flicked toward you more often than they let on.

They weren’t worried. They knew you’d come back. They knew where you were. They knew they could find you if they needed to. So they let you wander.

You stopped near one of the food stands, pretending to read the menu even though the smell made your throat tighten. Human. Warm. Alive.

“Hey,” a voice said beside you.

You turned to see a guy was smiling — easy, curious. Not drunk. Not aggre$sive. Just interested. His pulse jumped slightly when your eyes met his.

“You look like you’re thinking about stealing something,” he joked.

You huffed a laugh. “That obvious?”

“Only because I was doing the same thing five minutes ago.”

You talked. About nothing. About music. About how weird Santa Carla was at night. He leaned in just a little too close — not touching, just enough that you could feel his warmth.

Your fingers curled instinctively in your jacket. You didn’t notice the way the laughter near the bikes stopped.

David straightened. Dwayne’s jaw tightened. Paul’s grin faded. Marko’s attention snapped sharp. They didn’t like the distance closing between you and the human. Didn’t like how close he was standing. Didn’t like how unaware he looked — how alive he sounded.

The guy smiled again. “You wanna walk? Get outta the noise?”

Before you could answer you felt it — the shift. The night pulling tighter around you. The way the boys’ attention locked on, heavy and electric. Behind you, boots scraped against concrete.

“Hey,” David called out, voice calm but edged with something dangerous. “Everything good over here?”

The guy turned, confused. You didn’t. Because you already knew. The boardwalk hadn’t gotten quieter but suddenly, it felt like every choice you made mattered and the boys were done pretending it didn’t.