(This story is dedicated to the memory of actor Bill Paxton, 1955 - 2017. Thank you for inspiring the ultimate "What If?". Rise Again Little Fighter.)
The Lost Boys are the lords of the Santa Carla boardwalk once the sun goes down. However their nightlife gets interrupted when they end up saddled with the responsibility of teaching a new and confused vampire the ropes of the Undead Life. But when a dark figure from David's past comes roaring into town the Boys are left reeling in the aftermath. An age-old conflict has invaded Santa Carla's shores and everyone is gearing for one hell of an all-out fangs-bared fight. Only one thing is certain though. There will be blood. So. Much. Blood.
Author's Note: This fic holds a very special place in my heart. This seems to be the Year of The Lost Boys but it is also the year the Horrorverse lost its iconic son Bill Paxton. Paxton was the spark of inspiration that ignited the powder-keg that became Lincoln P. Dervish, one of the key OC characters in this work. I have decided to give Little Fighter its proper due and finish it. The following is the updated Anniversary Edition of the original Little Fighter that was first published in 2006. The original draft can be found on this account but only the Anniversary Edition will contain updated content, new chapters, author notes, character backstories, and the official story ending. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I have over the last decade and it is time to bring Little Fighter to a close. So fasten your freakin' seat belts!
Disclaimer: Please be advised that this story is rated M for Mature for a very good reason. The character of Lincoln P. Dervish is one giant trigger warning for PTSD and Mental Illness. This story contains graphic content, violence, course language, abuse, drug use, demonic possession, and other matters that may be unsuitable for young readers.
(I do not own nor hold any claim to the characters/concepts/plots etc. from The Lost Boys film/book/comic/script franchise. This is merely a work of fan-fiction for enjoyment sake and there is no profit being made from it. No copyright infringement is ever intended. All original characters/concepts/storylines etc. that is not found in the Lost Boys film/book/comic/script franchise however do belong to me. They will not be used/borrowed/mirrored/lifted in any way without my consent. Thank you.)
Santa Carla, the supposed murder capital of the world. It's home to the odds and ends of (un)civilized America. Every type of person can be found in this small way-side coastal town if you look close enough. But sometimes when you look too closely, you find things you rather not see. Like the thousands of Missing Persons notices. Or the overflowing cemeteries with their graffitied headstones. The list just goes on and on.
But Santa Carla really isn't that bad of a town. Really, it's not. Carla's got quite the night life if you are into that sort of thing. If you're not, well, then you shouldn't be here. Let's be honest. You can't play with the big boys if you aren't prepared to get knocked around a bit. Trust me when I say that this place can be pretty rough. Carla's a tough Old Lady and that's what people love about her. She's the genuine article. And even the real deal has some rules to live by. Her Golden Rule is pretty simple.
Don't die.
In this town it's kill or be killed. The killed part might be a real drag but I'll tell you this though...the killing part ? It can be pretty awesome.
"Where is she? Dwayne! Where the hell did she go to now? You were supposed to watch her."
David stormed into the main cavern of the hidden lair looking extremely peeved. Decked all out in black and sporting a peroxide mullet that only he could pull off, the leader of the small band of Santa Carla vampires looked like one of those bad-boy Billy Idol types from an MTV music video. The thoroughly pissed off look on his face only added to his over-all gravitas. Yep, David was quite a looker. Pity his personality was a real drag.
"I turned my back for a second and then she was gone. She couldn't have gotten far."
Dwayne ran his hand through his long black hair for the umpteenth time that night. Tall, dark, and handsome, he was a brooding stand-in of a Calvin Klein model with a wild edge that could have sold tube socks by the truck load with a well-timed scowl. He may not have had a heart beat in years but his face was one of those that could certainly break hearts with a look. His was a quiet certainty that gelled well with David's electric charisma which had lofted him to the position of second-in-command in their small band of brothers. The two vampires worked well together despite being about as similar as the far side of the moon.
Only not right then. David was on the rag and there was no getting a sensible word in edgewise when that happened. Better to stay quiet and let things take their course.
It had been close to a month and their "problem child" had given them the slip more times than anyone would care to admit. It was starting to grate on Dwayne's nerves and he was supposed to be the stoic one of the group.
"Then check the Boardwalk. I'll hit the coast. She wouldn't go near the residential areas." David muttered as he yanked his trench coat off the back of a broken chair and threw it on. Not missing a beat he headed for the mouth of the cave while Dwayne followed at his heels.
"And if I find her?" Dwayne asked even though he knew what the answer would be.
"Drag her ass back here and whatever you do don't let Max see you."
David was all sharp edges as they quickly made their way up the long rickety wooden staircase that wormed its way up to the top of the cliff. The thing was a deathtrap waiting to happen and that was what made it a perfect fit for their secluded hole in the rock wall. No one with half a working brain cell would dare descend those stairs because it was painfully obvious that if they did attempt it they would become nothing more than a colourful splat against the jagged waterlogged rocks that waited below.
No other words were spoken as the two vampires mounted their waiting motorcycles and sped off into the night. Dwayne made a beeline for the the bright lights and tinny sounds of the Boardwalk while David was swallowed up by the waiting darkness, leaving nothing but tire tracks in the rocky sand as he gunned it towards Hudson's Bluff.
Growling to himself David had to squint against the salt that stung his eyes. The winds were picking up off the ocean. A heavy storm was brewing out there over the Pacific. He slowed his bike to a crawl as he stared at the mist-shrouded outline of the old lighthouse that stood as a silent sentinel out past the bluff. Its powerful beam of white light cut a blinding swath into the vast reaches of the dark ocean waters. That old relic always set his teeth on edge whenever he came this close. There were too many memories that clung to its stones, too many deaths that refused to find peace in the waters that surrounded it.
Thankfully it was only a matter of time before the town authorities finally closed the lighthouse down for good. Too many "suicides" were being committed in it and the locals had begun to look deeper into them. Time and the ocean would do the rest to drag the structure down into bay, one piece at a time.
David's cold eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he gave the empty expanse of the bluff a thorough once-over. If there was one place that little pain in his backside would be it would be where he had forbidden her to go. Sometimes it was almost depressing at how predictable teenagers were.
It did not take David that long before he spotted a faint pair of footprints in the dirt at the bluff's edge. There was only one person in Santa Carla who wore a size six and a half boot with a large heart engraved in the sole of the heel.
Gotcha.
David killed the Triumph's engine before he kicked down the kickstand and dismounted. Without a sound he peered over the edge of the bluff, searching the rough rocky outcropping below for any signs of life. The tide was out so the massive wave-battered boulders were exposed to the night air. Coated with thick layers of seaweed and other random bits of ocean debris it would have been easy to miss the small denim clad figure that was perched on the very edge of one of the larger rocks. But David hardly ever missed a detail, especially one so colourfully dressed.
"How did you find me this time?"
The figure said in a quiet voice. She did not look over her shoulder when David landed silently behind her and gave the swirling tide line a guarded look. He yanked the girl roughly to her feet and turned her around to face him. Shorter by a good few inches, despite the heeled boots she wore, David seemed to tower over the girl. Even so she slouched forward and refused to meet his gaze. He stared hard before he said anything. In the near dark of the ocean he could see that the garish purple eye make-up she wore was smudged and streaked. The girl had been crying hard. That could only mean one thing.
"You are the only vampire stupid enough to get this close to running water." David sneered as he tilted her chin up so that he forced her to look at him. "You didn't."
"I wanted to see if it was true." She averted her eyes, knowing that she was really going to hear it this time. "I didn't get far so can you just drop it?"
"Didn't get far? What? You thought that we were lying when we told you what running water could do to us? Show me." He ordered as he released his firm hold on her arm.
"No."
The girl took a step back and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. The dangling charms that hung off the front pockets of her patched and bedazzled jean jacket tinkled softly to the movement.
"Sarah, do not make me force you."
David resisted the urge to reach out and shake some sense into her. The girl, Sarah, bit her lower lip and shook her head. Teased blond hair went every which way when she refused him again. David gritted his teeth in annoyance and closed his eyes for a second. Losing his cool was not going to make the situation any better but he had reached that point where he refused to care anymore. The kid was asking for it.
She wanted to be difficult? Fine then. He would show her difficult.
His vampire self came out in full force. The demonic face, teeth, claws, the whole shebang. When he opened his eyes Sarah was doe-eyed with fear, fear she tried to hide behind a look of nonchalance. It failed spectacularly.
All David had to do to break through her pathetic defensive attempt was flash his fangs once in a crooked sneer before she crouched down and pulled at the soaked legs of her patched jeans. She knew better than to argue at this point. Sarah carefully pulled down the zipper of the right calf-length leather boot and gingerly eased her foot out of it.
"You only went knee deep?" David crouched down to get a better look at her bare foot. It was an ugly shade of blueish purple and white. It looked like it could have been frost bitten.
"Not even." Sarah hissed softly between her teeth when David bent her foot back and forth to make sure that it was not as serious as it looked.
"And the other one?" David glanced up at her.
"The same."
Sarah winced as she tried to balance on one leg in order to keep from tipping sideways.
David did not believe her.
"I swear I'm not lying."
The moment she placed her bare foot on the slick rock Sarah let out a sharp yelp. The pain intensified tenfold and caused the muscles in her legs to cramp. If David had not caught her she would have tumbled backward and landed headfirst onto some unpleasantly sharp rocks.
"I'll look at it when we get back at the cave. It doesn't look like it'll be permanent. You're lucky." David allowed Sarah to lean against him as she slowly put her foot back into her boot. "Next time you will listen to what we tell you and quit taking what we say for granted."
"Fine. Whatever."
"And the next time you pull another stunt like this," David growled as her nails dug into his jacket while she carefully worked the zipper, "I will leave you out here for the sun to end you. Is that understood?"
There was a bitter edge to his voice that drove the point home. Enough was enough.
He had just about had it with her little pranks. The night before she had leapt off a train trestle to test the theory of whether or not vampires had the ability to fly. If it had not been for Marko's quick actions Sarah would have ended up a broken heap of bones had she hit the bottom of that ravine.
"Well?"
Sarah refused to look him in the eye as she nodded her head in defeat. Like most newly turned vampires Sarah's enhanced abilities were raw and untested. There were things that she was fairly decent at by their standards. Running faster than a bullet seemed to be a personal favourite of hers that made David's eye twitch. Her inability to fly however was something that had them all puzzled. Every vampire that came from the bloodline they all shared had the ability to instinctively float for a short period of time before they eventually gained the necessary experience to achieve flight. But when Sarah had jumped she had plummeted like a stone.
Without the gift of flight she was at a severe disadvantage because that was one undead trait that the Lost Boys relied heavily on when they were on the hunt. Maybe she was one of those odd cases where the vampire never attained the ability to fly? If that was true David and the boys were going to have their work cut out for them more so than they already did. That was not something David or the others looked forward to.
"Yes, I hear you. I promise I won't do this again."
In their world a grounded vampire was as good as dead and Sarah had already proven herself to be a handicap on more than one occasion.
"Did you feed at least?" David rolled his eyes at the dark look she gave him. "When was the last time you killed something?"
"Tuesday."
She turned her back so that she could self-consciously use the edge of her Patti Smith t-shirt to wipe away the smudged eyeliner that had bled out under her eyes. It was bad enough that David had caught her at her most vulnerable but she still had a shred of pride left.
David turned his eyes upward and looked for answers in the overcast sky. Why him? Why was he the one left to deal with this sheer stupidity?
"It's Friday. You are aware of that right? It has been three days. What did I tell you about holding out?" He started with the riot act. This had to be what, the ninth time he had to say it to her? The tenth? He had lost count.
"I know, I know! I just couldn't do it tonight. I don't know why. I tried David. I did! But...tomorrow night. I promise I'll do it tomorrow." Sarah began to nervously gnawed her on her lower lip. She was in deep trouble now. Only there was no one that she could to turn to, nowhere she could hide.
David adjusted his gloves before he reverted back into his human visage once more.
"That was what you said yesterday."
David called her on her bluff.
"Come on David don't do this!" Sarah whined softly. David motioned at the cliff with a curt nod of his head.
"David..."
She tried once more but when there was no response Sarah hung her head. Without saying another word she carefully climbed off the boulder and began to pick her way toward the narrow trail that she had used to climb down the side of the cliff. There was no getting out of this one, not this time.
But there was still some fight left in her. Despite the fact that every step felt like she was walking on broken glass Die Hard style. She was sixteen, not six. If David thought that he could make her do something she did not want to do then she was not about to make it easy for him.
It always came down to the timing. Listening carefully Sarah acted instantaneously when the opportunity presented itself. Before David could pick up on what she was up to Sarah did something rather stupid. She lashed out and kicked David as hard as she could. Simultaneously both vampires let out a holler of pain, Sarah for her scalded foot and David for the cheap shot to his groin.
Vampire or not that really hurts.
David stumbled forward while Sarah clenched her teeth and bolted. She did not achieve warp speed but from a human perspective she was nothing but a colourful blur streaking up the cliff trail.
"Shit!" David venomously swore and it took a moment or two before he could straighten up. It hurt like hell but the pain quickly become a dull throb. A hair-raising snarl was let loose as he launched himself skyward in a gust of wind. Fiery eyes tracked the motion of colour that darted out across the bluff at a flat sprint. Sarah managed to get a hundred yards or so from the bluff's edge before David tagged her from behind with such force that they both hit the ground and rolled from the impact.
"Let go of me!" Sarah screeched when David locked her flailing hands behind her back.
"Shut up!" David hissed as he stood up and dragged her none-too-gently over to where the Triumph was parked. When she attempted another mule kick he tightened his grip and hauled her sideways so that he was out of her line of fire.
"David let me go! LET GO!" She shrieked, louder this time, before her teeth found one of David's gloved hand.
"ARGH! Shit!" David yelled when she bit down hard enough to bite right through the leather and into the back of his left hand. "You little-!"
The blow David delivered knocked her clean on her ass. He had no qualms about hitting a girl and did not hold back. As far as he was concerned equal rights meant equal lefts. This time Sarah stayed down. Her shoulders shook as she curled up into a ball with her arms covering her head in order to protect herself from David's angry outburst.
David swore something ugly and fierce before he wrenched the glove off in order to inspect the damage. That little brat had bit him clean to the bone and severed a vein or two. His hand was a bloody mess but the skin had begun to repair itself. In no time there would be no trace of the wound. His glove was ruined however and that annoyed him to no end.
"I swear if you try that again I will rip the fangs out of your skull." David was dead serious.
He ignored the muffled whimpering and reached down to yank the girl to her feet. In the same fluid motion he sprang back in surprise when Sarah turned on him. Her eyes were impossibly bright as her lips peeled back in a show of warning. She bared her fangs and hunkered down in the dirt and dry seagrass. From fearful to feral Sarah made herself as small a target as she could as she went into defensive mode. If David came near she would be on him like a Xenomorph facehugger and twice as nasty.
"This is what happens when you don't feed!" David barked in annoyance but kept his distance. He had hoped to avoid something like this for the past two days but it was only a matter of time before the girl went snake-eyed. Honestly why did he even bother when it was not worth half the effort it took trying to keep her in line?
David pulled off his other glove and pocketed it so that his hands were unrestricted. Out came the razor-like claws as he shifted into his true self but instead of attacking him as he expected Sarah did the exact opposite. She stayed low and backed away with a warning growl. Lowering his head David locked eyes with the girl and bared his fangs, a low dangerous snarl coming from deep within his chest as he tried to provoke an attack. Sarah hissed in a vicious reply but refused to move forward. Instead she started looking for a way out.
"C'mon!" David roared as he rushed her and stopped short in order to coax the response he wanted. Sarah hissed back but still the half-deranged fledgling refused to fight. If David did not dominate her in this form, as was the traditional way in dealing with unpredictable half-starved vampires, then he would have no other choice but to do what was necessary in order to force her to submit, even if it meant killing her.
Such was the twisted way of the vampire.
"C'mon." He muttered quietly under his breath when he saw her tense.
Before she could make up her mind one way or another a third vampire decided to join the fray. That was enough to startle her into action
"Gotcha!" Paul whooped loudly as he dive-bombed the face-off from out of nowhere. Giving a wild yell he took a mock swipe at Sarah that forced her to move. Sarah shrieked in surprise, the sound coming up somewhere between "nails on a black board meets dying rabbit", as she whirled around and slashed at the air where Paul had been only seconds before. It would be a cold day in the devil's sauna before she could best him from the air.
Paul swooped out of her reach and continued to pester her on from above. This gave David a chance to calculate his move. When Paul ducked quickly in order to avoid getting a face full of claws, David sprang into action. The precision strike to the back of the head had enough force to knock Sarah into next week.
"Impeccable timing Paul." David remarked as he lowered Sarah onto the ground, gingerly flexing his left hand as he did so.
"Well I was in the neighbourhood so I figured I'd drop by and see what was goin' on." Paul chuckled to himself as he landed lightly on his toes. A cheeky smirk appeared on his lips as he glanced down at Sarah who was out cold and in no position to cause them any more grief.
"What was it this time?"
"What do you think?" David muttered as he undid the buckle of his leather belt and pulled it out of the belt loops of his jeans. "Give me yours."
"Again? This shit is gettin' old." Paul did as he was asked and handed David his studded belt. David knelt down and quickly lashed Sarah's hands behind her back with one belt, making sure that it was tight enough so that she could not break free when she came to. The same went for her ankles but David was careful not to cut off the circulation to her feet. He did not need to make the situation any worse than it already was.
David sat back on his heel for a minute and shook out his hand. The kid had a skull as hard as a rock.
"Do me a favour Paul. Take the bike and pick off one of the runaways on the beach. The last thing we need right now is a hunger strike. Max would have a field day with that." He looked up at Paul who scowled and shoved his hands into the pockets of his tailored tailed coat.
"Why the hell did we get stuck with the babysittin'? She's not ours. She's Max's problem." Paul gave David a knowing look.
"And we answer to Max so whatever Max says goes Paul. She's our responsibility for as long as he says so. Hey, do you really think that I enjoy doing this? I'd rather get rid of her and be done with it."
"Then why don't you?" Paul asked quietly, so quietly in fact that David almost missed it.
"I would if I knew we could get away with it. But Max knows exactly what he's doing and if anything happens to her, it'll just give him an excuse to have all our heads. We want to get rid of her, he wants to get rid of us, it's so simple it almost hurts." David replied as he reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a set of keys.
"I really hate that guy." Paul said and spat off to the side because the mere mention of Max's name left a foul taste in his mouth.
"We all do. Even her. But right now there's nothing we can do but deal with it." David pointed out as he tossed the keys to Paul.
"Same old song, different chord." Paul hopped onto the back of David's motorcycle. The keys were easily snagged from mid-air before the ignition was tripped and the Triumph roared to life.
"If you run into Dwayne tell him to get his ass back to the cave. I'm not wasting the rest of the night force feeding her."
"I'll tell him. He won't be happy but whatever. See you in a few." Paul gave David a mock salute and opened the throttle. The Triumph sped off with a wild holler from its rider. It was not often that Paul was given the green light to take the vampire leader's bike through its paces so he was going to make the most of this opportunity and run with it.
Without all of the caterwauling and carrying on he had no problem gathering Sarah in his arms. To him she weighed little more than a child because that was what she was. A innocent kid that was scared stupid about her new reality. She had no business being mixed up in their world of endless night and shadows. She was better off dead and they all knew it. Max was a real twisted piece of work. David cursed him with every foul name he knew as he launched himself into the sky and flew back to the safety of the cave.