Hello folks.
Due to a major writing block, this chapter is long over-due. I know I promised Starwould appeare in it, but every time I write one chapter, I realize that I have an extra one to add on, hence this story just keeps on getting longer and longer. But do not worry, she'll be making her grand entrance in the next one. As for this chapter, it's all to do with the little relationship triangle between Fay, Dwayne and Paul. Please don't kill me. I'll be getting back on track with the next one and from there, we shall eventually get to the epilogue of this story. I've come too far to just let this thing sit here to collect dust, and plus, I really want to let you guys read about the massive cat fight that takes place in chapter 18. So without futher ado, here is the long awaited chapter 16. Enjoy!
Two Months Later…
It was five o'clock on a Thursday afternoon in mid-January when the papers were signed and Fay was finally allowed to leave the hospital and go home. After two solid months of living off of hospital food and with only her own thoughts to keep her company, Fay looked like shit. The kindly Mrs. Ellen Grisham had to nudge her husband in the ribs to stop him from blurting out the obvious when the elderly neighbors had arrived at the hospital to bring Fay home that evening. When the doctor had left, Mrs. Grisham didn't give Fay or her husband a moment's peace, bustling about like a nervous mother hen clucking and chucking as she bundled Fay into twenty layers of clothes. Fay didn't say a word the entire time as her old neighbors tried to get some sort of conversation started. Instead she just stared glassy eyed out of the passenger window of the Grisham's old Chevrolet, watching the sun slowly creep towards the horizon.
"Well now, here we are. Home sweet home." Ellen chirped when they pulled up into Fay's small driveway. The windows had been repaired and the interior of Fay's house had been thoroughly cleaned and tidied up while Fay was away. The house looked as good as new. Well almost. The small two story building had a depressing, forlorn feel to it, as if a dark cloud of smog hung over it, giving off this unsettling atmosphere.
"Frank, get the bags." Ellen told her husband as she helped Fay out of the car, handing her the plain wooden cane that she was now forced to use in order to keep herself balanced. Mr. Grisham grumbled something under his breath but a sharp glare from his wife instantly shut him up.
"Just be careful now. Take them one at a time. That's it." Ellen said as she forced a sunny smile onto her face as Fay carefully navigated up the four wooden steps of her front porch. Fay's sullen demeanor had the old woman concerned. Fay was always so full of energy and spunk, smiling and laughing on a whim. But now, it was like looking at the shell of what had once been their get-up-and-go neighbor.
"Frank, the door." Ellen snapped as her husband dragged the two suitcases up to the front door and dumped them onto the porch.
"Will you give me a minute woman? I only have two hands." The old man growled as he rummaged through his keys, finding the spare key and inserted it into the lock.
"How about a nice cup of tea Fay? You must be exhausted." Ellen crooned as she guided Fay into the house, shoving her husband out of the way as she did so.
"That's gratitude for you." Frank growled as he grabbed the suitcases and totted them in, nudging the wooden door closed with his knee once he was in the front hallway.
"Alice and Mimi came by and helped to put the house back in order. Everything is exactly as it was." Ellen said, brimming with false enthusiasm as Fay slowly peered into the living room, inspecting the walls and the floors.
"No it's not." Fay said quietly as she slowly hobbled into the living room, making her way over to the couch. Mr. and Mrs. Grisham exchanged an uneasy look as Fay carefully sat down, leaning her cane up against the glass coffee table, the one which Alice had replaced because the original one had been smashed to pieces.
"Oh honey, don't think like that. You know what the doctor said. This is a whole new beginning for you." Ellen said as she bustled over and sat down beside Fay, leaving her husband to stand awkwardly in the entranceway.
"I miss them." Fay whispered softly, leaning over and resting her head against Ellen's shoulder. The older woman clucked under her breath as she carefully wrapped her arms around Fay, hugging the young woman to her.
"Oh, I know you do. The entire neighborhood misses them. But the cats have gone to a better place." Ellen crooned as she stroked Fay's head, thinking that it was the deceased cats that Fay was pining over. Fay sighed heavily as she closed her eyes, letting herself be mothered by her concerned neighbor.
"Thank you." Fays murmured when she opened her eyes, looking over at Mr. Grisham. The old man gave her one of his rare smiles as he nodded his head. When the yellow tape had gone down, Frank had ventured into Fay's house and collected the bodies of Fay's cats. He then brought them down to the local vet and had the nine cats and six kittens cremated. Alice and Mimi had pooled their money together and bought a large urn to house the ashes of Fay's beloved pets. They even commissioned one of their artist friends to paint a cat mural onto the urn's shiny surface, which now stood by Fay's small fireplace at the end of the room.
"Is there anything that Frank and I can get you? I stocked up for fridge full of fresh food and I've tupperized some of my meat loaf, tuna casserole, spaghetti and roast beef for you. You should be fine for a few days without having to cook." The kindly old woman said as Fay pulled away from her, taking off the two scarves that Ellen had wrapped around her neck. "Here, let me help you with that." She said as she started to work on the buttons of the large overcoat.
"It's ok Mrs. Grisham, I think I can do it myself." Fay said quietly, staying the old woman's hands with her own. The hurt look on the Ellen's face was replaced by one of understanding when she realized what Fay meant. With a slight permanent limp and the inability to bend, it was plain to see why Fay wanted to do things on her own. Even something as simple as unbuttoning a coat gave the girl some piece of mind that she wasn't completely hapless and that it was possible to put her life back together. Fay wasn't going to come bounding back to her old self; she was going to have to crawl along, inch by inch to get there. Mr. Grisham cleared his throat as he motioned at the front door with a jerk of his head, telling his wife that it was time that they had best left. Fay was always one for privacy and now they could tell that she just wanted to be left alone.
"Well Fay, if you ever need anything, anything at all, you know that you can come to us." Ellen said as she rose to her feet, adjusting her coat as she did so.
"Yeah, all you have to do is scream and we'll come running." Mr. Grisham said with a chuckle, one that died on his lips when both Fay and Ellen glared at him. "I huh….mean…." He muttered before quickly letting himself out.
"Thank you for everything Mrs. Grisham. I don't know what I would without you two." Fay said with the hint of a smile on her face.
"Oh, don't you worry about it Fay. With you living here all by yourself, someone's got to look out for you." Ellen said, returning the smile. She picked up her purse and went to the front door, looking over her shoulder as she did so. Fay was starting to take off the coat, the body brace making it a bit difficult to shrug out of it. Mrs. Grisham sighed softly as she opened the door and let out a startled squeak when something small and gray shot past her and into the house.
"Fig!" Fay cried as her beloved tom cat launched himself into the air and collided into her, meowing for all he was worth. "Oh Fig, Fig, you overgrown bottle brush! Where have you been? I've missed you so much. Kiss?" Figaro lifted his head and pressed his nose to Fay's lips, fanning out his whiskers as he did so to give her a cat kiss. Fay sniffed as she crushed the cat to her, smothering him in a hailstorm of kisses and for once he didn't mind.
"I wonder where that cat's been all this time." Ellen whispered quietly to herself as she watched the reunion, smiling softly. Well, at least Fay still had one of her cats left. Without saying another word the old woman quietly let herself out and crossed the lawn to reach her own house. As Mr. and Mrs. Grisham retired into their home for the evening, the sun slowly began to set leaving a brilliant red sunset in its wake.
By the time Fay had finally put everything away and settled in, the mobile Felix the Cat clock read 11:23 pm. Wearing nothing but an over-sized t-shirt and a pair of baggy sweat pants, Fay inspected herself in the full-length that stood in the corner of her room. She looked normal enough, aside from the slight scar that ran through her right eyebrow and her unusually straight posture. She was going to have to wear a body brace for the next five months until her spine was fully healed and wearing that thing was like being trapped in a corset that wouldn't move with your body. It was safe to say that she loathed the thing with a passion.
"Well?" Fay asked out loud as she turned around, looking down at Figaro who was sprawled across her Elvis comforter, sniffing the cane that was lying beside him. The gray tabby lifted his head for a moment and meowed before going back to inspecting the cane.
"At least I can get rid of that stupid thing in a month or two. Damn well un-dignifying if you ask me." Fay yawned as she sat down on the bed, pushing Figaro to the side as she swung her legs onto the bed. The cat rolled to his feet and pounced on her, latching his claws onto the sleeve of her shirt. Fay looked at him as he stared up at her, butt in the air, green eyes shinning while his thin tail arched into a question mark.
"What's this? The pint sized wonder wants to wrestle eh?" She said in a mocking tone as Figaro grumbled, tugging at her shirt. "Gotcha." She yelled as she suddenly grabbed him, flipping him upside down before plopping him onto her chest.
"Mew!" Figaro cried in protest as she kneaded his belly. The cat tried to worm his way out of the tummy torture but to no avail. So he gave up and contented himself with batting at Fay's face with his tail, giving her a mouthful of cat fur.
"Why you ungracious fur ball." Fay sneezed as Figaro's tail tickled her nose. The tabby just closed his eyes and purred, happy to be home with Fay. It irked Fay that she wasn't able to curl up into a ball with her cat and that one thought instantly dissolved her playful mood. After a few moments, Figaro realized that something was different and he opened his eyes just before Fay pushed him off of her.
"Maow?" He meowed, wondering what was wrong. All he got was a heavy sigh as a response. The cat turned his head and looked up at the life-sized portrait of the King of Rock and Roll and the painting just blinked at the cat. Figaro sat up and peered at Fay's face to see if he could read her facial expressions, but the witch was staring straight ahead, lost in her own thoughts.
A half an hour passed and during that time, Fay didn't move so much as an inch. Figaro gave up and satiated himself by curling up beside her and drifting off to sleep, dreaming whatever it was that cats dream of. The rest of the night would have gone on in this manner if it hadn't been for the sudden "wham" that startled both Fay and Figaro upright. Instinctively Fay groped underneath her pillows for the large knife that she always kept there, but it took her a moment to realize that the knife was no longer there. So instead she clutched her cane tightly, holding it up like a baseball bat as she stared wildly about the room, fully expecting Max to come bursting through her bedroom window with fangs bared.
"Hey babe! Guess who…" A familiar voice said out of nowhere.
"AHHHH!" Fay screamed as she practically flew right off the bed, which was by no means an easy feat for her at this time, and spun right around, swinging the curved end of the cane straight into Paul's face as hard as she could. Caught completely by surprise, Paul was a split second too slow to avoid getting his head bashed in and with a sickening crunch, the blonde vampire stumbled back against the wall with both hands over his nose.
"God damn it!" He swore as blood started to trickle through his fingers. He blinked owlishly as he tried to get the bright spots before his eyes to stop dancing around. Fay stood in the middle of her bedroom, cane still held ready, staring at Paul as if she didn't recognize him.
"Paul?" She whispered, not quiet believing what she was seeing.
"Yah…hi Fay." He said as he raised his left hand in a mock salute while he kept his right hand over his busted nose, trying not to bleed all over the place. Pity these things never work out as one would hope. Just as Paul pulled himself off the wall the bedroom door flew open and Dwayne burst into the room, pulling a Risky Business move that rivaled Tom Cruise's. The door slammed into Paul's already bloodied face and the vampire went down for the count before Dwayne even came to a complete stop.
"Ah shit." Came Paul's muffled cry as he landed on his ass, completely dazed.
"What the fuck?" Dwayne muttered as he closed the door, staring down at Paul. He could just imagine the little play-boy bunny cartoon figures swirling above Paul's head, like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon episode.
"Dwayne? Paul? Wha…" Fay stammered, looking from the floored Paul to the slightly bemused Dwayne with a look of pure confusion on her face.
"We heard that you were coming home today and here we are." Dwayne said as he grabbed Paul by the back of his jacket and hauled the guy to his feet. Paul just nodded to whatever Dwayne had just said, not trusting himself to speak. The room was still spinning and he was currently seeing doubles of Fay, so he took that as a sign that things were still a little scrambled up in the attic, if you know what I mean.
"Here you are? ARE YOU GUYS MENTAL? WHAT THE HELL EVER POSSESSED YOU TWO TO COME HERE!" Fay shrieked, waving her arms around for extra emphasis. Dwayne stepped backwards to avoid getting smacked by her cane as she blasted them one, looking like a woman possessed despite the obvious stiffness in her posture. Paul looked over at Dwayne, but neither could comment on her actions as she ranted and raved like a regular farm-grown loony who had just escaped from the nut house.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! NOW! IF YOU GUYS KNOW THAT I'M HERE THEN MAX WILL KNOW! IF HE CATCHES YOU TWO HERE HE'LL KILL YOU ALL!" She screamed at them, trying to herd them out of the room with her cane. However no matter how hard she tried, the two vampires didn't budge and after five minutes of screaming at the top of her voice, the effects of over-exerting herself caught up with her and before she could stop herself, she stumbled forward as a wave of light-headedness swept over her. Dwayne instantly caught her before she could crash head-first into an inanimate object and pinned her to his chest as she tried to pry herself away, cursing and flailing for all she was worth. The scuffle didn't last long and by the time Paul's vision was back in working order, Dwayne had calmed Fay down to the point that he could actually get a few words in edgewise as the near-hysterical witch berated the two of them for coming to see her.
"Just relax for a minute Fay, you're going to stress yourself out." Dwayne said calmly, trying to get Fay to stop trying to push him out the bedroom door. Figaro peered cautiously from underneath the bed, watching the entire episode from his place of refuge.
"I'll be less stressed if you two got the hell away from here. How do you know that he's not outside right now, just waiting for you?" Fay said, quickly glancing out her window to see if Max was lurking in the shadows or something to that effect.
"Fay, don't worry girl. He's not out there. You can trust us on this one." Paul said as he helped Dwayne haul Fay over to her bed. Between the two vampires, Fay didn't stand a chance and when she finally realized this, she stopped struggling all together. But that didn't mean that she was about to give up entirely.
"Trust you on this one? Paul, right now this isn't about trust. This is about a psychopathic maniac of a vampire that is, in all probability, listening to every word that we are saying. The guy is Satan spawn; I wouldn't put it past him." She said as she looked over her shoulder once more, staring intently out of the dark window. Paul just rolled his eyes as he went over to the large window, drawing in the curtains to stop Fay from getting distracted every five seconds.
"You're giving him way too much credit Fay. Max is a bastard, but he's no Prince of Darkness." Dwayne snorted as he perched himself on the edge of her bed, sitting on one side of her while Paul launched himself onto the unoccupied space of the queen sized mattress, his landing nearly sending Dwayne tumbling off of it.
"Watch it." Dwayne growled as Paul laughed and rolled over onto his back, resting his head beside Fay's leg. Fay arched an eyebrow as she scowled at both of them, keeping her arms crossed over her chest, refusing to let them off this easily.
"Awww, c'mon Fay, don't be like this." Paul whined as he looked up at her, giving her those innocent puppy eyes that had landed him into her good graces all those months ago. Fay narrowed her eyes and snorted as she stood up and walked over to her main dresser, grabbing the box of Kleenex that was sitting beside the Elvis bust and marched back over to the bed.
"Those pity puppy eyes won't work on me Paul. And you're bleeding all over the place." She muttered as she yanked a few tissues from the box and began to mercilessly dab at the bloody trails that covered the lower half of his face.
"Owww…OW! Jeez woman are you trying to…ahhhh! That hurt!" Paul complained as Fay "accidentally" dabbed him on the nose. He tried to move away but she pinned his head to the spot by sitting down on his hair, preventing him from going anywhere.
"Oh will you quit complaining? You whine like a ten year old girl." Fay said as she grabbed a fresh tissue from the box, licked the corner of it and began to rub away a smudge on the corner of his mouth.
"I do not." Paul muttered as he tried to bat away her persistent hand, but to no avail.
"Do to." Dwayne said, not bothering to cover his up his laughter at Paul's plight.
"Do not!" Paul shot back, glaring over at Dwayne who just laughed louder, egging Paul on.
"Ok, enough!" Fay snapped as she tore a tissue in half and rolled the halves into small cylindrical wads. "I swear you two act like little kids."
"He started it." Paul muttered out of the corner of his mouth, glaring over at Dwayne who just leered in response.
"Yeah? Well I'm finishing it. So shut it, both of you." Fay growled as she rammed the wades of tissue up Paul's nose to staunch the bleeding. Paul swore something colorful as she did this while Dwayne crumpled up piece of tissue and used them to pelt the hapless vampire, trying to see how many times he could nail one in Paul's mouth before Fay caught on. When one of the pieces bounced off Fay's face, Dwayne instantly hid the evidence and tried to look as innocent as possible as she slowly turned to glare at him, her left eye twitching. If it hadn't been for Figaro, who suddenly decided to pounce on one of the crumpled tissues that now lay on the floor by the edge of the bed; he might have gotten away with it too.
"What did I just tell you?" She asked him in that tone of voice that you knew that you were automatically screwed. Paul silently laughed at Dwayne as he tugged his hair free and sat up, gingerly inspecting his nose. The pain was already started to subside and it was only a matter of time before everything was back in its proper place. So he smartly decided to just humour Fay for the time being and put up with the annoying tissues, least she break something else on his body in retaliation. Crazy cat ladies….you never knew what mood swing they were going to get into next.
"Hey! The thing!" Paul said, the little light bulb over his head suddenly blinking on as he remembering something, the reason for them coming here.
"What thing?" Fay asked him, quickly looking from Paul to Dwayne, suspicion rising like a heated barometer.
"Fuck man, go get it." Dwayne said, motioning to Paul to get his ass moving before he did it for him. Paul rolled his eyes as he crawled off the bed and sauntered out of the room, leaving the two alone for the time being.
"Get what Dwayne? What's Paul getting?" Fay questioned him but before she could launch herself into a full-blown inquisition, Dwayne leaned forward and snared her in a kiss that made her next words fly right out the window. Two months of not knowing anything had caused Dwayne to go into himself, clamming up around the others so that by the end of the first month, his brooding silence had finally become the accepted norm. Max kept a careful watch on the sullen vampire, knowing that a sudden change in his behavior would mean that the boys had been up to something behind his back and he really didn't have to think all that hard as to what that "certain something" could possibly be. David, being the ever-devious one that he is, knew this and if he knew it, the others knew it as well. So it was then up to all four of them to keep up the subservient masquerade in order to keep Max looking in the wrong direction while they went about plotting and planning his demise.
"Ahem…you two want me to come back later?" Paul cough, interrupting the make-out marathon that was going on between the witch and the vampire. Hey, after two months of being cooped up away from one another, it was surprising that they weren't going at it like crazed ferrets.
"No, no Paul. It's alright." Fay said, trying to keep her tone of voice at a dignified level while her face flushed an interesting shade of pink. Dwayne shot Paul one of his piercing scowls, but by now Paul was so used to Dwayne's touchy temperament that the look had little effect on him. If it had been some regular Joe Shmoe standing there, the guy would have ran screaming from the room.
"Anyways, bone head here and I thought that a little welcome home present was called for and well, voila." Paul said as he walked over to the bed, carrying a medium sized box in both hands, one that had a huge red bow planted on the lid of the box and a row of quarter sized holes running along the four sides. Figaro leapt up onto the bed and squeezed himself between Fay and Dwayne just as Paul placed the box on Fay's lap, in order to get a better look at the thing.
"Please don't tell me it's something that died recently." Fay said as she and Figaro exchanged an uneasy glance. God knows what the two vampires would come up with as a "welcome back you're not dead" gift.
"Just open it." Paul grinned as he plunked himself down beside Fay, both eyes zeroed in on the box.
"The question is dare I open it." Fay muttered to herself as she carefully lifted the lid off the box. When she saw what was curled up inside, the expression on her face was priceless. Two huge yellow eyes blinked up at her as the tiniest mew was uttered, a sound that cause a huge smile to suddenly appear on her face, the forlorn look in her eyes instantly vanishing.
"You guys got me a kitten." She said softly as she reached down into the box and carefully scooped up the tiny ball of jet black fur. The golden ribbon that the boys had tied around the kitten's neck dwarfed the little fur ball, who was so small that he fitted neatly into the palms of her hands. Figaro glared up at Dwayne, giving the vampire a scandalized look before Fay stuck the kitten in his face, preventing the tabby from doing bodily harm to the guy.
"Look at him Fig, isn't he the most adorable bit of fluff you've ever seen?" Fay cooed, ignoring Figaro's soft growl of annoyance when the pint sized kitten stuck his tiny paw in his left eye.
"You think he's cute now, wait until you see him when he's high on cat nip. He's one crazy little dude." Paul said as he watched Fay rub noses with the tiny kitten, the two instantly bonding in a way that only cats and cat ladies can bond in.
"What's his name?" Fay asked, tearing her eyes off of the purring cotton ball in her hands to look up at the grinning faces of the two boys.
"Elvis." Dwayne said as he reached over and ran his finger over the kitten's head, fluffing up the "duo" that naturally stuck up between his ears. "Do you like him?" He asked her and the next thing both he and Paul knew was that they were suddenly grabbed in a death grip while Fay burst into tears, sobbing all over them.
"I think that's a yes." Paul said quietly as Fay drenched both of them with her tears. "Is she crying 'cause she's happy? Or 'cause she's sad?" He thought, looking over the back of Fay's head over at Dwayne.
"I think both." Was Dwayne's reply.
Figaro just narrowed his eyes and jumped off the bed, stalking off with his tail raised high in indignation as Fay managed to pull herself together. Dwayne handed her a tissue as she quickly mopped the remaining tears away, becoming calm and poised once again. Elvis, however, was going to need to be toweled down. Having gotten the brunt of Fay's sudden out-pour, the little guy looked about ten times smaller and his head looked twice as big. C'mon, could you get any cuter?
"Sorry about that." Fay sniffed as she cleared her throat, placing the kitten back into his box so that he couldn't wander off and get himself attacked by dust bunnies or whatever.
"Hey it happens to the best of us." Paul chuckled as he took the box off Fay's lap and placed it on the floor. "But he's just part of your gift. The second one we all worked on together." He said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and placed his hands over her eyes, preventing her from seeing what Dwayne was doing. The dark haired vampire got up and went out into the hallway, instantly returning with something held behind his back. Paul waited for a moment before he let Fay pry his hands away from her face and as she did so, Dwayne brought forward the cane that he was hiding behind his back.
"We got word that you were going to be using one for a while, so we thought that this would be more than appropriate, considering the circumstances." Dwayne said as he handed Fay the cane, handle first. Fay eyed the black ebony shaft closely, her fingers lightly running over the silver inlay that snaked around the center of the cane like a fine vine of ivy. However, it was the handle of the cane that really caught her attention. The cane itself was an antique, beautifully preserved but with one exception, the handle. Instead of having the traditional silver horse head that most likely had been a part of the fashionable walking aid, the sleek figure of a leaping jaguar now took its place.
Fay could actually see the retina of her right eye in fine detail as she stared at it, slowly turning the cane to admire it at a different angle.
"Yep, it's solid silver. Chrome would have just looked too cheap. You know, they don't make hood ornaments as good as they used to. It took us weeks to find this one." Paul explained as Fay ran her thumb across the jaguar's face, getting a feel for it. "You can thank David for that beauty. He swiped it off of some hot shot movie star's Jag. Didn't think that he'd be able to get away with it, but David's David, he always finds a way." Paul said before Fay prodded him gently with the cane's handle. "Oh, and that's not all." He grinned.
"Huh?" Fay asked as Dwayne took the cane away from her for a moment, doing his best not to burst out laughing at the bewildered look on her face. The fact that David had actually lifted a finger for her was something that seemed to shock Fay into a momentary lapse of derangement.
"This was Marko's idea." Dwayne told her as he twisted the handle to the side and slid the shaft away, unsheathing the razor sharp blade that was secretly housed inside the cane. Fay's jaw dropped as she realized exactly what she was seeing. It was a sword cane, a sword cane. They had given her something that she had thought was lost for good. They had given her a means of which she could use to defend herself with while retaining some sense of dignity. Hey, how many people walk around using a sword cane to get them from place to place? She would never have to worry about trying to conceal a weapon or fret about misplacing one seeing that the cane would be with her twenty-four hours of the day, seven days a week. So in a sense, the boys were actually giving her a bit of freedom. She no longer had to worry about being completely helpless and this simple gesture could set her mind at ease. If she ever ran into Max in a dark alley on a moonless night, all she had to do was whip the blade out and give the bastard what for. Good-bye knife fighting, hello fencing!
"You guys…I don't know what to say." She began but had to stop to remove an annoying bit of dust that got caught in her eye. Before Fay could work up a good cry, both Paul and Dwayne reached over and handed her a tissue each, causing her to sniffle and glower at them at the same time.
"Oh come on! I'm not that bad." She muttered as she snatched up one of the tissues, dapping the corner of her eyes with it while Paul and Dwayne just shook their heads and stuck the entire box of Kleenex in front of her face, just in case.
"Sure you're not Fay. Whatever gave you that idea?" Dwayne asked her as he stepped to the side, avoiding a sudden jab from the cane. Fay tried to give him her "ha ha very funny" stare but it failed miserably. Before she knew it she was laughing at herself and an unexpected "hiccup" caused the other two to cackle like a pair of crows.
"Ah man girl, you're too much." Paul sighed as he fluffed up the pillows and made himself comfortable while Fay sheathed the blade and lightly tossed the cane from hand to hand, getting a feel for its weight and balance. "Yo Dwayne, what time is it?" He asked, too lazy to turn his head to the side and look at the alarm clock that sat on the nightstand beside the bed.
"After twelve. We still got time." Dwayne replied, eyeing the glowing green numbers of the digital clock through its reflection in the mirror, the mirror that showed that there was only one occupant in the bedroom.
"Where are you guys going?" Fay asked curiously as she rose to her feet and rested her new cane against the nightstand. Paul watched her from the corner of his eye as she slowly sank down to her knees in order to pick up Elvis. The little kitten gave a tiny meow of protest before he began to purr like a well oiled motor, rubbing his tiny nose against Fay's fingers as she kissed the top of his head and undid the golden bow around his neck.
"Since Max is out of town for the next couple of days, we figured we should use this time to our advantage. And as much as I'd like to keep you for myself, there are others who want to see you." Dwayne said as he leaned up against the dresser, his gaze locked on Fay as she slowly hoisted herself up into a standing position.
"I don't know you guys; it's cutting it a bit close." Fay said as she quickly glanced over at the draped window, just to reassure herself that there wasn't someone out there watching their every move
"Whatever Fay." Paul said, rolling himself off the bed as snatched the cane from the nightstand and expertly twirled it with his right hand like a baton. "We got a few minutes to kill before David and Marko haul their asses up to the park, so if I were you girl, I'd put on something a little warmer. You still got that leather get-up in that massive walk-in closet of yours?" Paul asked as he eyed the closed door with interest. What other dominatrix wonders could be hiding in that closet?
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Fay asked as she put Elvis down on the bed. When Paul mentioned the outfit, she rolled her eyes and tried to take her cane away from sex-crazed vampire. But Paul wasn't about to just hand it over to her. That would be too easy.
"We didn't drive here Fay." Dwayne said as he quickly crossed the room and grabbed Paul by the collar of his jacket before the guy could crop a feel. "Don't you have something else you oughtta be doing right now?" He asked his fellow blood brother in a dangerous tone that Paul could not ignore even if he wanted to.
"Ugh…yeah. I think it's time I …err…caught up on my MTV." Paul said sheepishly as he cleared his throat, glancing down at the floor in order to avoid looking into Dwayne's slightly off-coloured eyes.
"Then go do it." Dwayne said before he released his hold on Paul. Beaten out of his slight leg up on the courting scale, Paul wasn't about to leave empty handed. Being undead allowed Paul to do a whole lot of things that humans couldn't even being to understand, and with a cackling laugh, he used his inhuman speed to its fullest potential.
"Paul!" Fay protested as he flew past her faster than her eyes could follow. He paused for a moment outside the bedroom doorway and twirled a black-lace thong on his forefinger, one that he had nicked from Fay's underwear drawer, the drawer that was rumoured to contain articles of scandalous clothing that could make you want to get down on your knees and beg. So says Dwayne anyways.
"Sucker." Paul cawed before he vanished from the doorway in a blink of an eye. Dwayne let out a savage snarl but the wooden door slammed shut on its own accord before he could even reach it
"It's alright Dwayne, let him have it. I never liked that one anyways." Fay said with a slight shake of her head. They were really going to have to do something about Paul's sex-drive. If he kept going on like this, Dwayne was more than likely going to remove a certain part of Paul's anatomy that the guy highly valued.
"I swear, one of these days I'm going to teach that guy a lesson." Dwayne growled darkly, glaring at the door for a final moment before turning back to Fay.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you will. Question. How did he know which drawer I keep my lingerie in anyways?" She asked him, crossing her arms over her chest as she nailed him with a knowing look. Dwayne just tried to look innocent as he shrugged half-heartedly.
"Don't know what you mean." He said, scooping up Elvis from the bed. Fay wouldn't attempt to smack him upside the head if the kitten were in the way. Very sad mind you, but so true.
"Sure you don't. Anyways, if you're just going to stand there, you can make yourself useful and help me get dressed." She said as she picked up her cane and made her way over to the closet. Instantly Dwayne's dark, brooding features vanished, but Fay didn't need to see it to know exactly what just went through Dwayne's mind.
"Not that kind of dressed." She muttered as she opened the closet door and stepped inside, hunting around for the light switch. Dwayne's face fell as he sighed, plopping Elvis back onto the bed before trudging in after Fay. The moment he stepped inside the closet however, all thoughts about the light switch or a new change of clothes vanished and when the door closed behind him, it stayed closed for a while. If it hadn't been for Paul's ceaseless banging on the living room ceiling, the two of them would not have emerged from their closet sanctuary for quite some time, which would have resulted in them being late, hence having a pissed off David on their cases. And that was something no one wanted. But thanks to Paul, they were able to avoid all that.