I remember that the only thing that I wanted to do that night after seeing Dwayne and Paul was sit down and cry my head off, cry until I could not cry anymore. However, thanks to Dwayne I never got the chance. It's a little hard to sob your heart out when you are practically mauling a guy in your closet and vice versa. Everyone always asks me about the strange marks that run down my right and left collar bone and all I can do is simply shrug and blame it on the "car accident" that left me partially immobile. I will tell you all one thing though. Vampire hickeys hurt like hell, but it's a pain that you can't resist. You all know what I mean.
"Can I kill him?" Dwayne asked Fay as he shrugged on his leather jacket, wincing slightly as he did so. He gently lowered the leather onto his left shoulder before zipping the jacket up. With his chest looking like a dominatrix road map, he really didn't feel like parading Fay's tokens of affection to the rest of the world. He's save it for tomorrow night.
"No you cannot." Fay replied as she carefully dabbed antiseptic onto the welts that covered her shoulders. In the heat of the make-out frenzy, Dwayne had gotten a little fang happy and if it hadn't been for Paul's loud interruption, things might have gotten a bit out of hand. "You know Dwayne, you and Paul have got to stop this whole "my club is bigger than your club" thing. It's really starting to get a tab bit tiresome." She said as she reached for her bottle of concealer make-up. Thank the lord for the Avon lady.
"We all know that I have the biggest club." Dwayne stated slyly as he padded up behind her and rested his chin on the top of her head as he brought his arms around her waist, holding her close.
"Ass." Fay said as she glanced at into the mirror, seeing only her reflection staring back at the two of them.
"And you love it." He growled softly as he lowered his head, whispering quietly in her ear. Fay couldn't suppress the involuntary shudder that ran through her even if she tried. It always happened when he did that.
"Says you." Fay said as she gently brought back her elbow, jabbing him lightly in the stomach as he started to nuzzle the side of her neck. "Ok boy fangs in." She said when she felt the gentle prick of his fangs on the lower part of her neck, near her already marked collar bone. "What did I tell you about the no fang rule?" She said as she twisted in his grasp, coming around to face him.
"Awww, c'mon Fay. I won't break skin." He said with a slightly dejected look on his vampiric face, hellish yellow eyes gleaming down at her with a light of their own. Fay just arched an eyebrow.
"You take a piece outta me; I'll take a chunk outta you. Remember that." She said, probing his chest with a hooked claw on every second word. Dwayne gave a half growl/half sigh in response as his face morphed back to normal. "Oh cheer up you." Fay said as she dabbed her powder puff on his nose, leaving a streak of alabaster white behind.
"YO! DWAYNE! FAY! QUIT SCREWIN' AROUND UP THERE! I'M GETTING' HARD ON JUST LISTENIN' TO YOU TWO! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" Paul's voice drifted up through the air vents as he hollered from down in the living room. Fay choked back a bray of laughter as she rested her forehead against Dwayne's chest, shaking in silent mirth. The murderous look that appeared on Dwayne's face was just too much.
"QUIT LISTENIN' THROUGH THE DAMN VENTS YOU ASSHOLE!" Dwayne roared back, his voice filling the entire house. Elvis gave let out a scared mewl as he tried to burrow underneath Fay's pillows, the range of the vampire's voice hurting his sensitive ears.
"OH YEAH? WELL WHY DON'T YOU COME DOWN HERE AND MAKE ME? HEY FAY! HOW BIG IS DWAYNE'S CLUB ANYWAYS? DOES IT DO A TOOTSIE ROLL JUSTICE?" Paul howled back at the top of his lungs, out-roaring Dwayne.
"Ok, that's it." Dwayne growled as he let Fay go and ran out of the bedroom, slamming into the opposite wall as he took the corner too fast and couldn't stop himself in time. Fay had to clutch onto the edge of the dresser as she laughed her head off, hardly able to breathe. Paul's laughter was instantly cut off with a yelp as Dwayne barreled into the living room and caught the other vampire in an all-out tackle, both of them crashing into the couch. The sounds of their scuffle and a whole slew of swearwords erupted from the living room as Dwayne wrestled Paul to the ground and began to beat the whatnot out of him.
"BOYS! BOYS! IF YOU BREAK ANYTHING I'LL BEAT BOTH YOUR ASSES BLACK AND BLUE!" Fay yelled from her bedroom as she quickly finished applying the rest of the cover-up, hiding the bite marks from view. She hurried over to the closet and grabbed a sweater off a wooden hanger, throwing it on as fast as she could. Having donned a new change of clothes, she was as ready as she'd ever be. All she needed was her cane, which she had in her hand, and her house keys, which were on the kitchen table.
"Figaro, take care of Elvis." Fay said as she hurried out of the bedroom just as the gray tabby came sauntering towards her, a mouthful of long dark hair in his mouth. You got to love payback. Figaro blinked and then growled low in his throat as he spat out the mouthful of Dwayne's hair. Great, he had to baby-sit the twerp. Where's the justice I ask you?
By the time Fay grabbed her keys and entered the living room, Dwayne had Paul on the ground in a nifty arm-lock, forcing Paul to cry uncle. If Paul had needed to breathe, he would have passed out a long time ago.
"Say it." Dwayne growled as he tightened his grip, forcing Paul's right arm further back.
"ARRGH! Never!" Paul replied as he tried to flail out of Dwayne's grasp without getting his arm broken and nearly succeeded in doing so. Dwayne muttered something under his breath as he forced Paul's face into the carpet and climbed on top of him, practically sitting on him.
"Say it!" Dwayne said once more, this time twisting Paul's wrist a little too hard for friendly combat. Paul said something, but his words were muffled by the carpet. Seeing that the two would be at this all night if she didn't do something, Fay just slipped out of the living room and came back in a few moments later, holding a Polaroid camera in her hands.
"Say cheese boys." Fay said as she pressed the flash button and snapped a picture. "This one is going on the wall." She said as she took the instant hard copy in her right hand and waved it around, airing it. Since vampires do not have reflections, Paul and Dwayne did not appear in the shot, but it was the thought that counted.
"God Dwayne, get off! You tryin' to ride me or somethin'?" Paul muttered as he managed to turn his head to the side, only to be greeted with Dwayne's gleaming yellow eyes glaring right at him.
"Say it." Dwayne said for the third time.
"That I'm the queen of the world and that you two think I'm the sexiest thing on two legs. Yes, yes, we already know that Dwayne." Fay said as she put the camera and picture down and walked over to where the two were locked in a stalemate. Grinning, Fay slapped her cane across the moody vampire's butt before heading towards the front hallway. Once she grabbed her coat from the coat hanger by the door, Fay took out her keys and jangled them, getting Paul and Dwayne's attention.
"The first one out the door is the one I'm flying with." She said as she unlocked the door and opened it.
"Fuck this shit." Paul said as he bit down on Dwayne's arm that was wrapped partially around his throat. Dwayne growled as he shoved Paul down before springing off of him. Yet Paul, the crafty one that he is, turned and stuck out his legs, sweeping Dwayne off his feet and onto his ass. "Sucka." Paul laughed as he leapt over Dwayne and threw himself out the front door, following a split second later by Dwayne.
"Oh boy." Fay sighed to herself as she looked upwards for a moment before walking out the front door and closing it behind her. After locking it, she pocketed the keys and carefully made her way down the stairs and over to where Paul was waiting by the streetlamp. He flashed Dwayne a toothy grin, one which was ignored, and wrapped his arm around Fay's shoulders.
"What are we waitin' for? You comin' Dwayne?" Paul asked ever-so-sweetly as he and Fay began to walk up the sidewalk, over to where a high wooden fence offered an alcove of shadow from where they could take off without being spotted by any nosey neighbours. Dwayne glared at Paul as he followed the two, fighting back the urge to grab the other vampire and ram him head first into the fence. Fay, the ever observant one, looked over her shoulder and frowned at Dwayne, shaking her head ever so slightly. She knew that once those two were back at the cave, they'd be at it for the rest of the night and as far as she was concerned, David could deal with it. Right now she just wanted some semblance of order and peace and for these two hormonal leeches to get along, even if it was just for a few minutes. C'mon, is that so much to ask for? I didn't this so.
"Don't do anything stupid Paul." Fay muttered under her breath once they reached the shadows.
"Chill out girl. You're with me on this one-way flight. You got nothin' to worry about." Paul reassured her as he wrapped his arms around her, securing her to his side as Fay tucked the cane under one arm and clung deftly to him.
"Let's just get this over with." She muttered as she squeezed her eyes shut and went rigid when Paul launched himself up into the air. Throughout the entire flight Fay kept her eyes shut as she quietly muttered something repeatedly under her breath, a phrase that neither Paul nor Dwayne could decipher. Dwayne took up the wing man position, keeping just a little ways off to the right from Paul and Fay as he scanned the streets below, making sure that they flew on unseen. After twelve long minutes, the three of them touched down in an empty park, the dim light from the two flickering streetlamps barely illuminating the place.
"Coast is clear." Dwayne said as he scanned the small stretch of greenery for signs of any unwanted company. Paul nodded his head as he gently pried Fay's hands from around his neck, blinking in surprise when she grabbed him around the waist and hugged him, not letting him go.
"It's been forever and a day." She whispered, allowing herself to relax when Paul returned the hug. For the first time that evening he wasn't thinking about how Fay would look in that lacey thong that he had swiped from her dresser. Instead he actually thought of what they had all been missing out on these past two months that Fay was holed up at Saint Mike's and wondered how long it would be before he got to see her again. Max knew that Fay was being released from the hospital sometime during the week and now that she was out, he was going to be breathing down their necks to make sure that they didn't go back on their agreement.
"Paul." Fay said after a few minutes of silence had passed.
"Yeah?" Paul said, coming back to the real world. He looked down at Fay who was just shaking her head slowly. "What?" He asked her, a bit on the confused side.
"My back pockets are not to be used as hand warmers." She reminded him and if it wasn't for the slight twitch of her lips, he knew that he would have been in for one hell of a beating.
"Funny how I always forget about that." He murmured quietly as he looked over at Dwayne out of the corner of his eye. He thanked his lucky stars that Dwayne was busy rolling joints on one of the park's vandalized wooden picnic tables and hadn't seen a thing.
"You tend to forget about a lot of things I tell you." She whispered back, her clever grin reflecting the mischievous glint in his eyes. "But I won't tell you again mister." She said as she reached behind her and yanked Paul's hands out of the back pockets of her jeans.
"Ah c'mon Fay. Live on the wild side a little." Paul grumbled, toying with the collar of her coat, his fingers working their way down when Fay didn't try to stop him. Before his hands could reach their destination, Fay brought her cane up between them and lightly tapped Paul in the chin with the jaguar handle.
"Honey, I am the wild side and don't you forget it." She said as she stepped away, giving Paul a knowing wink before she made her way over to where Dwayne sat. Paul sighed softly as he ran a hand through his windblown hair, messing it up even more.
"Damn." He muttered quietly under his breath as he started towards the picnic table just as the distant roar of a motorcycle caught his attention. He let out a sharp whistle and raised his hand in greeting when he caught sight of Marko driving towards them, completely ignoring the "No bikes/motorcycle" sign that was planted at the park's entrance.
"Yo dude! What took you so long? We were goin' old waitin' for you to show. Where's David?" Paul asked as he sauntered over to Marko just as the guy came to a stop, but kept the motor running. Marko grinned and ducked to the side causing Paul's playful jab to miss his shoulder completely.
"Nice to see your ugly face again Paul. Like I wasn't scarred for life the last time I laid eyes on you." Marko smirked as he punched Paul in the ribs just as his friend leaned over and grabbed him in a headlock, nearly dragging him off his bike. "Hey, hey! The hair man, easy on the hair." Marko said as the two continued to fool around like the pair of goofs they sometimes were.
"Marko! I fly all this way and I don't even get a hello from you? Paul, let him go." Fay nearly shrieked as she hurried over as fast as possible. When Paul finally let his buddy go, Marko shifted on his motorcycle to greet Fay, but all he could manage was half a hello before she grabbed him in a bear hug, practically smothering the poor guy half to death.
"Hey Fa…oof!" Marko wheezed as Fay's iron grip descended onto his neck and shoulders, making him feel as if he were trapped in the coils of a hungry boa constrictor.
"Oh I've missed you so much. You don't know how much I missed you." Fay trilled as she pulled back for a minute to smother him in a storm of kisses.
"Fay I…" Marko managed before Fay yanked him forward into another deadly hug, almost hauling him off his bike.
"Where have you been? Why didn't you come with Paul and Dwayne? Is everything alright? Are you ok? Did you feed yet? You look a little pale. You didn't run into Max did you?" Fay jabbered, her tongue going about a hundred miles an hour as she placed a hand under Marko's chin, looking at him this way and that, making sure that he didn't have a scratch on him.
"Whoa, Fay! Take it easy girl. You're smotherin' the poor guy." Paul interjected on his friend's behalf as he moved around the bike and separated the two before Fay could go a-wall and start combing Marko's hair or something. They all knew that Fay babied Marko but this was a bit much.
"I know…I'm sorry…it's just…that…ohhhhh!" Fay sniffed before she buried her face in her hands and started to sob out loud for the second time that evening.
"Ahhhh…..it's great to see you too Fay, but I'm not dead girl. I mean, not that kind of dead." Marko said with a weak smile as he cracked the kink in his neck and watched Fay in alarm. Ok he expected a few tears because Fay was a girl and all girls tend to get a little too over-emotional about these kinds of things, but Fay was crying as if someone had just shot Figaro or something. He looked over at Paul for help, but Paul was already on it.
"Dwayne! Little help here." Paul called out as he unearthed a tissue from one of his pockets. Back at Fay's house he had pocketed a handful of Kleenex figuring that they would come in handy later. Maybe some of Fay's psychic ingenuity was starting to rub off on him, who knows?
"Sorry. Gah, this is embarrassing." Fay muttered as she took the tissue and mopped up the flood of tears, trying her best to compose herself without causing a scene. "It's the meds I'm taking…I'm out of whack and I have…a really bad habit of…of…crying at the drop of a hat." She sniffed as Paul handed her another Kleenex, the first one already reduced to a shredded mess of wet tissue. "Sorry." She sniffled, giving them an apologetic.
"Well at least you're not going into a cooking frenzy. I don't think I can stomach ten pounds of homemade linguini. Crazy Italians." Dwayne drawled as he walked towards them, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke as he took another long drag on the freshly rolled joint that he held in his hand.
"You love my linguini." Fay muttered as she brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. Dwayne just shrugged casually as he handed her the joint, which she readily accepted without another word. After taking a hit, she passed it on to Paul as she slowly started to relax.
"Hey, no harm done." Marko grinned as he adjusted his jacket before taking the joint that Paul handed to him.
"Care to tell us why you're riding solo?" Dwayne asked Marko once the crisis of Fay's uncontrollable weeping had passed. He passed the joint onto Fay when Marko handed it to him, knowing that getting her high was probably the best thing to do at the moment, least she spaz out when they broke the news to her about adding another member to the small group.
"David wants us all to meet him down at the pier." Marko said as he tossed a handful of stray curls over his shoulder, playing it cool.
"And dare I ask why he couldn't just meet us here, seeing that we are all here already?" Fay asked, a slight edge creeping into her voice. Paul grinned as he held up his hand, refusing the joint. Well at least they knew that whatever horse tranquilizers that Fay was taking weren't altering her personality too much.
"Because it's David." Marko replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "And Star ran off again." Marko said mentally, Dwayne and Paul glancing at each other with knowing looks, they had figured as much. This was now the fourth time in two weeks that David's new possession had tried to cut and run and they knew that when David got a hold of her, he was not going to be happy.
"Heaven forbid that that guy should lift a finger for anyone but himself." Fay muttered under her breath as she took one last drag on the joint and flicked away the smoldering end. "Well let's not keep David waiting, least he has a hissy fit and does something incredibly stupid." Fay muttered as she retied her hair and slowly swung one leg over the back of Marko's bike, wedging her cane between Marko's back and her chest. She winced slightly when she bent her left leg, a twinge of pain flaring up in her knee but one that she didn't let stop her. She'd probably pay for it tomorrow morning, but right now she was going be with the boys and she really preferred riding on one of these death contraptions rather than flying all the way to the beach. When Dwayne and Paul stepped foreword to help her, Fay hissed quietly under her breath, just loud enough to let them know that she could do it herself.
"I'm the one who fusses over you, not the other way around." She said to the three of them as she wrapped her arms around Marko's midriff, securing herself to the motorcycle and its driver.
"If you say so." Paul said as he rolled his eyes and took off with a loud whoop, skimming over their heads before shooting upwards in a blur of motion. Dwayne lazily winked at Fay before he followed Paul, vanishing in a flurry of wind. Seconds later a sharp cry and a snarled "fuck off!" from Paul were heard above them and Marko snorted as he listened to the aerial battle taking place.
"Please go the speed limit." Fay begged Marko as he revved the engine and turned the bike around, looking over his shoulder once before tearing out of the park, Fay swearing fluently in Italian as they headed for the pier.
As a safety precaution, Marko kept clear of the Boardwalk and took the long way around. They made it to the pier in less than forty-five minutes, at only 10 kilometers above the speed limit. As Marko wove his way through the maze of stout wooden support beams that kept the rickety pier standing, Fay noticed that the usual number of party-goers and bonfires wasn't as extensive as it usually was. Once they made it past the pier, Marko cut his speed and slowed to a stop just outside the ring of light that was given off by the small bonfire that Paul and Dwayne had made as they waited for Marko and Fay to arrive. However, there was no sign of David.
"He's not here yet? I swear that guy would be late for his own funeral…if he ever had one." Fay muttered to Marko as he helped her to dismount the bike. The young vampire smirked as Fay gave him a knowing look and dropped the kickstand, letting his bike lean slightly to one side as he climbed off it.
"What's your poison Fay?" Paul asked her as he help up two bottles, one filled with an amber liquid while the other was clear. Fay gave the bottles a dejected look as she hobbled her way over to where the two vampires lay sprawled on the pale sand, soaking up the heat from the flickering fire.
"If I down even a mouthful off that stuff, one of you is going to be preaching to the choir what a great person I was." She sighed as she slowly sunk to her knees and then sat down between Paul and Dwayne, laying the cane down beside her. "Can't drink alcohol while I'm downing three pills ever eight hours." She explained as she took the bottle of Jack Daniels from Paul and handed it over to Marko, who was walking behind them in order to plunk down on Dwayne's other side.
"That seriously bites." Marko said as he took a swing from the bottle, sputtering slightly as some of the fiery fluid went down the wrong way.
"Tell me about it." She said as she stared at the bottle of vodka that Paul was nursing, eyeing it with longing.
"Well those quack doctors never said anything about you not getting stoned." Dwayne murmured as he unearthed another joint from an inner coat pocket and handed it to Fay a flick of his wrist. Fay looked at the joint for a minute, weighing the good and bad options of smoking up another joint.
"What the hell. Light me up." She said, throwing the consequences to the wind. Fuck it all. If she couldn't get drunk, she was going to get stoned. One way or the other she was going to get thoroughly wasted tonight and enjoy doing it too.
"Grazi." She said when Dwayne handed her the lit joint. As she raised it to her lips, something on Dwayne's jacket caught her attention. "What's this?" Fay asked as she fingered the large, snarling spotted leopard that was clawing its way up the right sleeve of the leather jacket. She took a hit as she admired the fine detail in the firelight, noticing it for the first time. This thing was no cheap iron on but painstakingly hand-stitched into the tough leather. The fierce cat's beaded eye glinted as Dwayne shifted his arm, letting her see all of it.
"Didn't think that Sylvester the cat was good enough. You honestly don't look like someone who would get beaten up by a big-headed canary." Dwayne explained, watching Fay's face as she came to comprehend the deeper meaning behind the patch. A slow smile made its way onto her face as she took another hit, staring intently at the leopard as the shadows cast by the fire made it appear as if it were moving.
"It looks good." She said quietly, raising her eyes to stare into his, letting him know how much that simple gesture meant to her without saying a single word.
"You're not gonna start cryin' again are you?" Paul spoke up, instantly destroying the mood as he took a hearty swing of vodka. Both Fay and Dwayne blinked in unison as they turned to glower at Paul, who was oblivious to what had just taken place.
"Ow!" Paul exclaimed as Fay smacked him upside the head with her free hand. "What? Is it illegal for a guy to try to make conversation all of a sudden?" He growled as he raised the bottle to his lips once more, ignoring Marko who was laughing quietly to himself.
"With you Paul, I wouldn't be surprised." A quiet voice said as Paul suddenly found himself holding air instead of the vodka bottle. He blinked in surprise before looking up to see David standing above him holding the bottle, his blue eyes glinting softly in the firelight.
"Well look what the cat dragged in. Long time no see David." Fay said as she turned her head to the side, looking up at David from the corner of her right eye as she took one more hit before handing David the joint. David looked down at her with a mild look of amusement on his face as he waited a moment before accepting the joint. Marko thought he was seeing things, but it was true, Fay actually gave David the joint without offering death threats or voodoo curses.
"Glad to see you up and about." David replied as he took a drag on the joint and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, half-closing his eyes as the plant's narcotic properties tickled his senses.
"Sure you are." Fay grinned lazily as she rested her head against Dwayne's shoulder, never taking her eyes off of the former head vampire. The corner of David's lips twitched as he chuckled and drained most of the bottle's contents in a single go, leaving about an inch of vodka before handing the bottle back to Paul. "So, why the whole switcheroo?" She asked him as he stalked past her. Marko rose to a crouch, letting David take his spot beside Dwayne before he scuttled over to Paul and sunk down into the sand beside his best friend. After the whole musical chairs escapade was finished, the five of them sat in the soft glow of the firelight, listening to the surf crash upon the sand as tree sap hissed and popped in the heat of the flames.
"So is he gonna tell her?" Paul asked mentally to Dwayne and Marko, keeping his eyes locked onto the glowing embers in front of him.
"Beats me." Marko replied as he busied himself with the whiskey bottle.
"Will you two shut up?" David's voice growled as he interjected their mental conversation, his face never betraying what was going on in his head.
"Sorry." Paul muttered under his breath as he eyed the vodka bottle for a minute and had to reach behind David in order to give it to Dwayne.
"What?' Fay asked, snapping out of the momentary daydream that she had sunken into. Man, the reefer was some pretty good shit as they say.
"Huh?" Paul said, acting confused while David frowned ever so slightly.
"Never mind Paul." She said as she stretched her arms out in front of her and let them drop into the sand. "So what's been going on while I was MIA?" She asked, hoping to get some answers from the four. She could sense that they were hiding something and she figured that it had something to do with Max. Everything these days had to do with that damn vampire.
"We discovered that Max loathes Twisted Sister." Marko said as he capped the bottle and stuck it into the sand beside him. "So every time he comes by the cave, guess what we listen to." He grinned, turning to give Fay a conspiring wink.
"Ah. So if you four started dressing in drag and singing off key, do you think that'll piss him off royally?" She asked them innocently, looking from one to the other to see their reactions. Marko blinked while David just gave her a strange look.
"Well, we all know that Paul already has his outfit." Dwayne snickered as he shot Paul a devious smile, twirling his forefinger in the air just as Paul had done when he gloated over his successful snatch and grab of Fay's personal belongings.
"What?" David asked, watching Paul as his face slowly reddened.
"It's nothing David." Fay said quickly, hoping to put an end to the stirrings of another wrestle mania between the two vampires.
"You know Paul, black lace really makes the colour of your eyes stand out." Dwayne said casually as he brought the vodka bottle to his lips and downed the last of it. He tossed the bottle away as Paul's eyes narrowed into slits, looking like a pissed off rattler that was ready to strike.
"Oh really? And how would you know?" Paul asked his voice low and dangerous.
"Your boyfriend told me." Dwayne sneered, his toothy grin reflecting the firelight, making him look partially subhuman right then. Fay screeched as Paul threw himself on the two of them, taking a swipe at Dwayne's head with his nails as he let out a full-frontal vampiric snarl. Dwayne was pinned to the ground while Fay was pinned on top of him as Paul tried to get at Dwayne without accidentally taking off Fay's head in the process.
"Dwayne! Paul! Cool it guys! For Pete's sake! Cripple in the middle here!" Fay yelled, her voice muffled by Paul's tailed coat. Having had just about enough of their male pig-headed antics, Fay brought up her right hand and Paul was pushed backwards onto Marko as she summoned up the strange invisible force that seemed kick in whenever she found herself to be in situations that could potentially lead to serious bodily harm. She could have sent Paul flying halfway across the beach, but instead she took pity on the guy. She grabbed her cane that was lying half under her and brought it up, smacking Dwayne neatly between the eyes as she did so.
"Will you two stop?" She asked, glaring at the troublesome pair with a "try it again and see what happens" look. "And plus, black lace isn't all that it's cracked up to be. You should see me in leopard print. And I wouldn't talk Dwayne. If I remember correctly, you look pretty damn sexy in those leather tights and dog collar." She said as she pulled the hair tie out of her hair and gathered it back before tying it up again. Her last sentence seemed to diffuse the situation in a heartbeat.
"What dog collar?" David asked as he looked at Dwayne a small smile on his lips. It seems Dwayne didn't tell them everything about what went on that night he had stayed over Fay's.
"Dwayne wore tights? HA!" Paul cackled loving the fact that he now had something he could use to hang over Dwayne's head every time the guy tried to provoke him. Marko had to turn away so that Dwayne wouldn't see him snicker least he be the new target for Dwayne's ceaseless anger.
"Oh calm down Dwayne. You did look damn well hot in that get-up. Plus, I love a man in leather and you are defiantly a man that wears leather as a second skin." She purred coyly as her free hand found its way under his jacket, her nails toying his navel as she leaned forward and kissed him on the tip of his nose. "See, no harm done." She said softly, knowing that she had put an end to the situation. Dwayne just cocked an eyebrow but for once he didn't go into himself to brood for days on end. Instead, he just smiled knowing that the joke was on him.
"Whatever." He said as he caught her fiendish hand in his and held her captive.
"Hey! I have an idea." Paul said suddenly, his face split into a huge grin. "Why don't we send Max Fay's lingerie courtesy of the Twisted Sister Fan Club? Can you just imagine the look on his face when he opens the package?" Paul said and for a moment, they each thought about it and before they knew it, they were all lying on their sides, laughing like a couple of demented hyenas.
"Oh lord! I have a few things at home that would make him die of shock! Send him a full dominatrix outfit with an instruction manual. I think he'd kill every postal worker in Santa Carla." Fay hooted as she conjured up a vision of a god smacked Max holding ladies slut wear.
"He would know it was us." David said as he wiped a tear out of the corner of his right eye, his sides actually hurting him from laughing too hard.
"Oh man, but it would be great to see." Marko said once the laughter had subsided into giggles. It would be one of those moments that would be frigging hilarious for fifty years to come.
"If only." Dwayne chuckled as he rose up and tossed a piece of driftwood that he and Paul had collected into the fire to keep it going. Fay just shook her head and sighed happily, reveling in the presence of the boys. After so long it felt glorious to be around them, just chilling out without a momentary care in the world. She knew that it wouldn't last, but she pushed that thought out of her mind as she looked at the four boys, carefully imprinting this moment into her memories. Marko uncapped the bottle of Jack Daniels and passed it around as they fell into a comfortable lull, just sitting there watching the fire burn.
"Who is that?" Fay asked quietly, looking over Marko's head as she peered into the darkness, squinting to see who was hiding among the support beams of the pier. Fay had better night vision then most people, but her eyesight was nowhere near as advanced as a vampires and all David had to do was quickly glance at the pier to find out who was lurking a stones throw away. When he did see the lurker, his eyes went hard and the quiet comradely attitude he had moments before was gone in an instant. He had told her to stay in the cave. What the hell was she doing here?
"Friend of yours?" Fay asked as she watched the figure slowly leave the confines of the wooden beams and carefully make her way towards them, giving them a wide berth. Paul and Marko kept their eyes on the ocean surf while Dwayne's gaze flickered from the girl, to David and then to Fay, not saying a word.
"Something like that." David said as he rose to his feet and stalked away from the fire, heading to intercept Star before she got too close to be seen completely. Fay took note of his stiff posture and knew that something was up.
"Ok boys, spill it. What's going on?" Fay asked the three vampires, looking from one to the other, waiting for someone to let the cat out of the bag. No one spoke up. Fay's eyebrows rose when no one offered to shed light on this little mystery and that made her all the more determined to get to the bottom of it all. Curiosity and cats….you think that they would know that to best avoid a tricky situation would be to just tell her outright.
"Dwayne?" She asked him calmly, holding the cane in her lap as she gazed at him steadily, waiting.
"Her name is Star. She just another runaway that hangs around the Boardwalk." He said meeting her gaze head on and never wavering.
"Since when are you guys on speaking terms with the waifs of this place?" She asked, goading another answer out of the silent trio. When no one spoke up Fay looked over her shoulder to where David and this mysterious Star stood. They were talking about something but the crash of the waves made it nearly impossible to eavesdrop.
"What? Is she someone's girlfriend? Marko?" She asked playfully, nudging the youngest vampire with the end of her cane. "Paul? Oh come on you guys, unless Dwayne's been chasing skirts behind my back I'm not going to bite anyone's heads off. That's your jobs, not mine." She mused as she waited to see what connection that this Star person had with the boys.
"She's David's." Marko finally said.
"Oh? I see." She said pondering over this new bit of information. "So? Why all the secrecy? What, you guys think that I'd be jealous that the Pratt Prince finally found himself a trophy?" She asked them with a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Marko and Paul looked at her for a moment, expecting to see horns and flames, but all they saw was Fay smiling.
"Well, you know David. When he finds someone he wants, they don't have a choice not to enter the club. Seeing how you reacted when umm…the last time that happened, we figured that…" Paul explained but Fay cut him off before he could finish.
"You figured that I'd be snorting mad and out to kill David." She finished for him, the smile never leaving her face.
"Yeah, something like that." Marko said with a childish shrug. Fay just shook her head slowly and chuckled under her breath. Ahhh these boys. You never knew what they were about.
"The reason that I acted the way I did was because I cared about you two before you even met David. I was drawn to you and something in my deranged little mind told me that I had to look out for you. So when David decided that he wanted you for his own, well…you could say that I over-reacted slightly." She explained as she ran her hand over the smooth leaping jaguar, rolling the cane up and down her legs.
"Slightly? Fay you nearly tore his face off.' Dwayne spoke up, nudging her with his elbow. Fay just rolled her eyes at the memory of the incident and what the outcome had been.
"Please, that was nothing. You saw what I did to Max." She said quietly as she gave him a small nod. Looking after the boys was what her job was now and nothing was going to change that or stop it. She knew that there would be other vampires joining the group and that she couldn't stop them from bringing more into the fold just as she could not stop them from killing people. She accepted that. And plus they were guys; it was only a matter of time before more females began to show up. But the only thing that mattered to her was these four and that was that.
"Anyways, you guys can sit here for as long as you want. I'm going to check this Star out for myself." She said as she dug her cane into the sand and slowly rose to her feet, using the cane to propel her upwards. Paul tried to stop her, knowing that David was probably extremely ticked off at this point but trying to stop Fay from doing something that she wanted to do was like trying to stop the wind of blowing, it ain't happening. So, leaning on her cane for support, Fay made her way towards David and Star, slowly approaching from the right, eavesdropping as she went.
"This is the last time Star. I will not have you disobeying my orders at every turn. You try something like this again and I can assure you that you won't like the consequences." David growled softly, his voice as cold as frozen steel. Star took a step back but she didn't flee off into the night as one would expect her to. A lithe figure with a mane of dark curly hair and large, terrified doe eyes, she resembled a porcelain gypsy doll Fay had once come across in an antique store. And yet she stood her ground against David, which was admirable if not foolhardy.
"I wasn't going to run away David. Do you think that I would be here if I was?" Star replied, clutching her shawl tighter to her shoulders as the night wind pick up slightly.
"Then what are you doing here? I told you that you were not to leave the cave." David snapped, nothing giving her a moment to think up an excuse as he drove the answer out of her. The only thing that saved the girl from David's barely leashed fury was the sudden appearance of Fay.
"I was…I was…"Star stammered as she looked over David's shoulder and spotted Fay standing there a bit off to the side, waiting. David saw Star's eyes widen slightly and he turned around to see Fay peering over at the two of them in the near darkness.
"What do you want?" David questioned Fay, the tone of his voice clearly telling Fay that he wasn't at all happy with the interruption. However, Fay just gave him a quizzled look before walking forward, ignoring the dangerous look he sent her way.
"To introduce myself to your friend David. After all, it's only the polite thing to do." Fay said calmly, giving Star a gentle smile as she held out her hand to the girl. "Name's Fay Prima and you are?" She asked, allowing Star to have the opportunity to introduce herself and buying the girl some time.
"Star." She said quietly as she timidly reached out and shook Fay's hand.
Now this is where things get confusing. I'll admit that I never saw it coming but sometimes these things tend to work on their own premise. If I had known ahead of time what I was about to figure out right then, I think that I could have prevented a lot of the chaos and deaths that happened later on. Seeing into the future isn't as easy as gazing into a crystal ball or reading tarot cards, not for something like this. This was one of those times when you needed a catalyst to set everything into motion and it just so happened that Star was that catalyst. As much as I'd like to save my fellow man and give people a second chance, I should have run that girl through with my sword before I even opened my mouth. If only I had known.
"Star? Now that's not a name you hear…" Fay said as their hands touched. Fay's words died in her mouth as she suddenly went rigid, her fingers clamping onto Star's outstretched hand like the teeth of a bear trap. It looked like Fay was been electrocuted, unable to move as she hung onto Star with a grip that wasn't human. Fay's eyes went huge as she stared at Star with her mouth still hanging open, as if she were about to finish the sentence. In her mind images flashed like bolts of lightning, flickering back and forth as the meaning of each and every one of them hit her over and over again, stunning the witch into a shocked state. Her boys…she could see them all…dead…they were dead….dead and this girl was in the middle of it all. Confusion, unfamiliar faces, despair…there was so much of it. There was too much…too much! NO!
"NO!" Fay screamed as Star screamed in fear, Fay's death grip on her hand nearly breaking it. Fay didn't let go, couldn't let go and as long as she held the connection with Star, the images kept flooding into her, nearly driving her mad.
"What the?" Dwayne barked as he leapt to his feet when he heard the screams. Paul and Marko were up in a flash as they ran pell-mell towards the two girls. David, who had been taken aback by the entire thing leapt into action when he realized that Fay could not let go of Star's hand. Just as his gloved hand touched Fay's wrist, the connection broke and both girls went stumbling back, Star tripping over her skirt and falling into the sand while Dwayne caught Fay before she could land on her back.
"What's going on? What happened?" Paul asked as he skidded to a halt, looking from Star, who was sobbing and clutching her hand to her chest and then over to Fay was hyperventilating in Dwayne's arms.
"How the fuck should I know!" David snapped as he went to Star and helped her to her feet. Instantly she latched onto David, trembling like a scared rabbit as she buried her face in his jacket. David instantly put his arm around her shoulders, holding her while Dwayne slowly lowered Fay down onto the sand, trying to get her breathing under control. Marko swallowed as he looked to David who was just as confused as he was. What the hell was going on?
"Fay, Fay look at me. Breathe Fay, you gotta breathe Fay." Dwayne said as he cradled her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. It took a few moments but when Fay realized that it was Dwayne who was holding her, her breathing slowed down, the short, shallow gasps panning out to the point that she could get enough air into her lungs to actually speak.
"David…" Fay wheezed as she clung onto Dwayne's arm, both sets of claws digging into him. They had morphed on their own and Dwayne could only grit his teeth as they latch into his left arm without Fay realizing it.
"What happened Fay?" David said cautiously as he took a step forward. Star, however, dug her heels into the sand and refused to budge. Whatever the heck was wrong with that girl Star couldn't care less. She had scared her like nothing before and she didn't want to get any closer to her. David looked at her, shaking in fear, and then over at Fay quickly making a decision.
"Marko, Paul. Take Star back to the cave and stay with her. I don't want to hear it, just do it!" David snarled when Paul tried to protest. The two knew that David's word was final and unable to do anything else, they did what they were told.
"David!" Fay gasped again, this time with more urgency. David regretfully untangled himself from Star, ignoring her cry of protest as he went over to Fay. She was still clinging to Dwayne but it was more to help her stand upright than anything else. Her legs were shaking so bad she didn't think that she could stay upright her own, cane or no cane. As David approached Fay speared him with a look that sent chills running down his spine. She was scared, beyond scared. She had the look of a cornered animal that knew it didn't have a hope in hell of seeing one more sunrise.
"What is it Fay? What happened?" He said softly, slowly approaching her was one would approach a terrified animal as Marko, Paul and Star looked on.
"It's the girl." Fay said, swallowing hard before she could continue. "It's her."
"What about her Fay?" David asked quietly, looking over at Dwayne. All his right hand man could do was shake his head. He was about as clueless as the rest of them at the moment.
"Get rid of her." Fay hissed between her teeth with what only can be described as the wildcat stare appearing on her face. Eyes as wide as saucers, unblinking in warning, ears pressed back, body rigid and arms tense, Fay looked like she was about to launch herself at David if he got any closer.
"What?" David said, instantly going onto the defense, regarding Fay out of slightly narrowed eyes.
"You have to get rid of her. Kill her. You must. You have to or else you're all dead. She'll kill you all if you don't get rid of her now!" Fay hissed viciously, looking around and seeing things that the others couldn't. The images still played in her mind and she knew that she had to stop them from happening. She didn't have a choice.
"Fay what are you saying? Kill Star? Why?" Dwayne asked her but she just shook her head and released her grip on his arm, leaning against her cane to stay upright.
"What are you going on about Fay?" David asked tensely, staring at her with those cold, blue eyes, suspicion etched into face. "Why should I kill her?" He looked over his shoulder to where Star and the others were standing, listening in stunned silence. Star turned her gaze on David, her eyes beseeching and scared as Fay kept on insisting that they kill her.
"It's either her or you David." Fay answered as she breathed deeply and straightened out, the hunted animal look still clearly visible in her eyes. "I've seen your deaths and they all stem from her. She'll pierce your heart David and you'll die, as will Dwayne, and Paul and Marko. If she stays, you're all dead men. Get rid of her while you still can." She pleaded, looking at David, almost begging him to not question her about this. How do you explain to a bunch of the undead that you have just foreseen their ultimate demise and get them to actually believe it?
"Sure Fay, I'll do that." David replied with a small nod of his head. He didn't know what to believe. One part of him grudgedly believed her while the other part pinned her hallucinations on a mixture of stress, drugs and anti-depressant medication. Could this act just be a ploy to prevent Star from joining their ranks? Or was Fay trying to play her little mind games with him in order to get back at him for what Max had done to her? He honestly didn't know.
"David?" Star trembled as she looked from him to Fay, knowing that her life was hanging in the balance. No one moved or said a word while they all waited to see what David would do. The ball was in his court and he could either stop the game or continue to play it, it was up to him.
'What the fuck am I going to do now?" David thought to himself as he began to doubt his own good judgment and instincts. For that one moment, he was just as lost as the rest of them.
And that is what it means to be a Lost Boy. None of that Peter Pan and Neverland nonsense that everyone always compares them to. You have to be lost in life in order to be one of the Lost ones, the uncertain, the unknown, the unsure. David's moment of doubt was going to cost us all later on, but you cannot blame him for what happened. He was the leader of the Lost Boys, the one everyone looked to to make the final decision but sometimes even a leader doesn't know what to think or do. That's just the way things are.
"Ah, David?" Paul spoke up as he looked about him, sensing something that didn't seem right. David turned his head to the side to regard Paul and as he did so, he too picked up on what was bothering the other vampire.
"It's him." Dwayne said softly as he frowned, feeling the head vampire's presence nearby and resisted the subconscious urge to respond to Max's silent call. The other three were doing the same as they moved about, suddenly restless and agitated. Even David looked edgy, the uncertainty in his eyes vanishing as cold resolve took its place.
"He's not supposed to be back until tomorrow." Marko said uneasily, glancing up at the sky as he did so. If Max was back this early, god knows if the guy knew what they were up to.
"Plan's changed. Marko, bring Star back to the cave and meet us on the Boardwalk. Paul, you and Dwayne go and meet him, make sure he sees you together. If he asks where I am, you know what to say." David said, quickly putting everything into motion.
"And you?" Dwayne asked as he looked over at David, the dark brooding attitude making its grand appearance once more because he knew that he didn't have a choice but to leave Fay here and had to endure Max's presence once again.
"Getting us an alibi. He'll double check whatever we tell him to make sure that we aren't playing him false." David said as he turned in the direction of the Boardwalk as the call became stronger. "Get moving." He said quietly as he turned and headed off in the opposite direction, ignoring Fay's look of protest as he walked past her. Before she could call out to stop him, he was gone.
"Damn it David." Fay muttered as she turned to tell Dwayne that they could not let her warning go unheeded, but as she did so she realized that she was the only one left on the beach. Seeing this, Fay just shook her head in frustration as she looked down at the cane in her hand, muttering to herself.
"If you won't do it then I will." She said out loud and the muffled crash of the surf was her only response.