Greetings all!
Finally, I have managed to finish this chapter. I started it four months ago and after ages of procrastination I have finally finished it. I do apologize for any spelling mistakes that are in the story. It's very late and my eyesight is doing some pretty funky stuff at the moment. Anywho, I just want to say MANY THANKS to goldenpeaches, Ghostwriter, Black-Raven3 and you too SummoningDark, whever you've ran off to. As cheesy as it sounds guys, your reviews mean a lot and they are what has given me the drive to finish this bloody chapter. Also a big thank you to you dear reader for reading this story. I really hope you are enjoying it and don't worry, the end is in sight. Three more chapters guys! Woot! Three more and then this story is officially finito! And then I can concentrate on putting my all into another fanfic. (Happy sigh)
Well, enough of my yammering. Here's the chapter so get reading!
The night was young and already the four boys had gone out do their nightly routine of terrorizing and feeding. Tonight, they had decided against going to the Boardwalk for the soul purpose of avoiding Max and going with Paul's suggestion, had taken themselves over to the downtown district of Santa Carla. With the vast number of homeless, pimps, prostitutes and dope-peddlers, it didn't take the vampires long to sedate their hunger and then some. After surprising and polishing off three acid users, Paul was staggering around higher than a kite, lost in a tripping world of melding colours and warped images. Dwayne had found him speaking prose to a mailbox that he obviously thought was Jim Morrison and it took both himself and Marko to fly the wasted vampire back to the cave, which was no easy task seeing that Paul went spastic when he saw the glittering lights of the Boardwalk. Marko had to smother him with his jacket to keep Paul from giving their position away as they shot over the ever-busy boardwalk. It was David who saved them a lot grief when he dealt Paul a shot to the jaw that temporarily stunned the intoxicated metal-head.
"I swear Marko you are going to have to start watching what he eats from now on because if he pulls another stunt like this, I'll kill him." David swore when they touched down on the fog-shrouded cliff, just a stones' throw from the stairs leading down to the cave. Marko and Dwayne landed simultaneously and the landing seemed to jolt Paul back into consciousness.
"Why is it snowing?" Paul asked groggily as Marko tried to get him to stand upright.
"Shut up Paul." David spat, giving his doped-up fledgling a disgusted glare.
"Yes Sir!" Paul saluted and crumpled into a heap on the ground, giggling for no apparent reason. Dwayne shook his head and muttered something about stoners under his breath.
"Well there's no way in hell that we can go anywhere with him like this. I say we toss him over the cliff and see if that brings him back to his senses." Dwayne suggested as he watched Paul stare at his hand unblinkingly, seeing things that weren't there.
"Lay off him Dwayne. It's not like you've never tripped before." Marko miffed, taking a step to the side as Paul rolled over on his side, humming something that sounded like a heavy metal version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Dwayne just laughed and turned his back to Paul, not bothering to give the guy another thought.
"So what are we going to do about Fay and Star?" Dwayne asked David quietly as the two of them moved off a bit from the other two. David just shook his head slightly and massaged his forehead with his right hand. The little get-together that they had two nights ago had literally blown up in his face and everything that Fay had said then was still echoing in his mind. It wasn't like Fay to go ballistic on someone out-of-the-blue and this was what worried him. The last time he had not heeded the witch's warning; they had all ended up under the yoke of Max's oppression. And now she was going on about Star and up-coming chaos and disaster that would occur if David allowed her to stay. Yet the last thing he wanted to do was to get rid of Star. She was his sole possession and he meant to keep it that way.
"I don't know. What do you think?" He asked Dwayne. Out of the three of them, David valued Dwayne's council above the others. The guy had leadership experience under his belt and despite his recent solitary attitude, all thanks to Max yet again; he had a keen mind for tricky situations. Dwayne didn't reply instantly. He stood there, staring out at the barely distinguishable figure of the old lighthouse, lost in thought. David watched Dwayne but didn't demand a response. Instead his eyes drifted upwards towards the night sky as if the answer to his problems could be found in the distant cosmos.
"I think she's jealous." Dwayne said, running a hand through his hair to move it away from his face. David gave Dwayne a puzzled look, not quite certain that he had heard his right hand clearly.
"Jealous? Fay? Why would she be jealous?" David asked, pondering Dwayne's response. Fay could be a spitfire at times and a cold-blooded Nazi when she wanted to be, but jealous? Somehow that didn't strike David as being true.
"If I know Fay, I bet that she sees Star as a threat." Dwayne began, gathering his thoughts into one clear argument. "Not so much as a lethal opponent like Max, but more of a personal threat. It's a girl thing. Fay considers us personal territory and you bringing another female into the fold, well, sometimes girls can get a bit catty when their territory is crossed. I think she hates the fact that Star is able to be around us twenty-four seven when she sees us, what…once every few weeks if that? We're all that she has left and she's going to fight tooth and claw to make sure that we don't slip away. Plus, bringing Star into the group means that there is the possibility for others. And I don't think Fay likes to share very much." Dwayne said steadily, his eyes still staring off into the distance.
"Now how the hell did you figure that out?" David asked Dwayne, musing over what Dwayne had said. Looking at it from that point of view, David could see why Fay would be up in arms against Star, who by all means couldn't hold a candle to Fay's position in the group. Fay belonged to them all, or rather they all belonged to each other. Star belonged to David and no one else. David had to admit it that yes, Fay was a part of the Lost Boys just as much as he was, despite the fact that Max had usurped her all those months ago. She reminded him of the cat that came back the very next day and just couldn't stay away. No matter what happened, she just kept coming back, again and again, never taking no for an answer.
"Because I've got the claw marks to prove it. She'll deny it if you ask her, but even if what she says about Star is true, or even partially true, jealousy will still play a large part. Girls have an incredible knack for saying one thing and believing something different." Dwayne said with a small smile as he shook his head. Even though the wounds had heeled the next day, his arm was still on the tender side. What a rattler's nest they had stirred up. Trying to figure out a way to get rid of Max without him discovering their intentions was nerve wracking enough, but if Fay started to hang around the Boardwalk more frequently, Max was bound to notice and things could go spinning out of control from there. The only reason that she was still alive was the fact that the boys had "kept their end of the bargain" in Max's eyes and haven't seen or spoken to Fay since their submission. Which was complete bullshit of course, but as long as the deception continued, everyone was happy. Well, almost everyone.
"Hey, you hear that?" Paul said as he rolled onto his back, blinking owlishly up at the sky. As expected, everyone ignored him. "Sounds like cats fighting. Ha aha ha, sounds like a catfight! CATFIGHT! YEAH!" Paul crowed as he accidentally kicked up sand into Marko's face.
"Christ Paul, will you shut up already?" Marko growled as he spat grit out of his mouth and rubbed it out of his eyes.
"Can't! There's a catfight!" Paul cackled as he rolled up to his feet.
"What the hell is he talking about now?" Dwayne asked Marko as he watched Paul totter towards the wooden stairs.
"Something about a catfight. He's just delusional." Marko shrugged as he moved to grab Paul before he accidentally plunged off of the edge of the cliff.
"Figures." Dwayne snorted. Typical Paul. However, David tilted his head to the side and listened intently. Maybe Paul wasn't imagining it after all.
"I think he's right. Listen." David said to Dwayne and Marko as he motioned them to listen with a nod of his head. The three of them put their ears to the wind and listened, ignoring Paul as he began to stagger down the wooden stairs. They kept standing stock still when Paul missed a step and fell head over heels straight down to the bottom of the staircase.
"Sounds like it's coming from the cave." Marko said when he realized that he could no longer see Paul.
"Think you're right little man." Dwayne said, a small frown appearing on his face. This couldn't be good.
"Get Paul Marko." David commanded before he took off. Forget the stairs. If there was a brawl going on in his domain, like hell was he going to walk. Dwayne followed David, leaving Marko alone to pick Paul out of the incoming surf.
"Wazgoinon?" Paul groaned as Marko dragged him out of the shallow water feet first.
"There's a fight so let's get moving you moron." Marko snarled in frustration as he hefted Paul up to his feet and draped his right arm over his shoulders. Paul shook like a dog, sending water flying everywhere as he leaned against Marko for support. At the mention of a fight, his head began to clear and the freezing Pacific waters had sent a jolt through him, waking him up from his drug-induced delirium.
"What in Ozzy's name is goin' on?" Paul asked David when he and Marko finally staggered into the cave. David didn't answer. He didn't have to.
"YOU BITCH!" Shrieked a disheveled Fay just as she threw a dented paint can at Star's head. Star screamed and ducked behind the broken chandelier that was nestled in the fountain.
"Leave me alone!" Star cried as Fay chased her around the fountain, waving her cane in air with one hand as she pelted the girl with miscellaneous objects, screaming all the way. The ring-around-the-rosy routine ended when Fay finally caught up with Star. Both girls tripped over each other and landed in a heap on a bunch of old newspapers. Cloth, hair and bits of newspaper flew every which way as the two of them went at one each other like a pair of deranged alley cats with their tails tied together. It literally was a vicious catfight.
"I warned you, you big haired slut!" Fay hissed venomously as she grabbed a fistful of Star's long hair and yanked. Star screeched and scratched Fay in the face with her nails in retaliation. Fay curled back her lips and yowled before bitch-slapping Star across the face.
"GET OFF OF ME!" Star yelled before she pushed Fay away from her and scrambled to her feet. Fay, due to the fact that her spine was fused to a metal rod, cussed viciously as she slowly worked her way upright. By the time she was on her feet, Star was cowering by the four-poster bed on the other side of the cavern.
"Get back here you whore!" Fay growled as she charged at Star, flushing the girl out of her hiding spot with a few jabs of her cane. The two continued to tear apart the already trashed headquarters as they chased each other back and forth, biting, scratching and kicking in an all out battle of femininity. Anything that could be thrown was thrown and anything that got in the way was demolished.
'I think we should stop them." David said but made no move to join the fray. The three others exchanged a look before looking away in opposite directions. Like hell they were going to put themselves between the two spastic women.
"You first." Paul muttered under his breath. David gave him a scalding look and ducked as a hunk of plaster was accidentally thrown in his direction.
"DAVID! HELP!" Screamed Star as she tried to fend Fay off with a burning stick of wood that she had yanked out of one of the barrels. Fay had backed her into a corner and there was nowhere else to run. Star's eyes went huge when she saw Fay's nails morph into a hooked set of claws.
"Oh shit!" David swore as he threw himself off of the ramp and charged headlong at Fay who had raised her arm back to take a swipe at Star. Star screamed and ducked when Fay's claws went for her throat. The bitch was trying to kill her!
"NO!" David roared as he intercepted the blow, grabbing Fay by her arm and yanked her away from Star. Fay's claws got nothing but air as David spun her around, grabbing her raised arm as well. Fay's eyes flashed as she shrieked cat-like at David who had morphed into his vampire self. David bared his fangs and snarled at her as he forced her back against the wall, pinning her arms above her head.
"Let go of me." Fay snarled right back, cat eyes glowing fiercely as she fought to free herself, but David kept her pressed up against the wall as Dwayne and Paul moved in from the sides. When the two of them had gotten a firm hold on the cursing cat woman, David released her and took a step back.
"Easy Fay, calm down!" Dwayne argued, as he had to use his shoulder to keep her from twisting out of his grasp. Despite being overpowered and outnumbered, Fay still struggled to get at Star. Marko had made a beeline for Star when David had fended Fay off, ushering her out of harm's way as the others tried to get Fay under control.
"So help me when I get my hands on you I'll tear your lying eyes out and ram them down your ungrateful throat!" Fay hissed as she glared murder at Star who shrank back into Marko's protecting embrace. The sight of Star seeking comfort from Marko, playing up the whole "innocent" act, nearly set Fay off once more. How dare she! Oh how dare that little she-devil use her boys like this!
"You get away from him you viper!" Fay shouted as she redoubled her efforts. There was no stopping her. All she wanted to do was tear that snake in the grass to ribbons and come hell or high water she was going to do it!
David looked over his shoulder, seeing Star shake like a leaf as she buried her face against Marko's shoulder. His eyes narrowed when he heard Fay curse Star and before anyone could react, he wheeled around and slapped Fay so hard that her head snapped back and slammed against the rock wall, instantly plunging the cave into silence.
"What the fuck is your problem?" David hissed quietly as he stepped forward, thrusting his face into Fay's. Fay blinked once, holding back the tears of pain that were welling up in her eyes as she tilted her head up and glared at him.
"Why don't you ask her?" She hissed back. There was a red mark where David had hit her and it was now starting to smart like hell. The two of them glared at each other and for a few heart-stopping moments, it looked as if David was going to rip out her throat with his teeth.
"Star?" David commanded as he slowly took his eyes away from Fay.
"It wasn't my fault. I swear it wasn't. I didn't know…I didn't know." Star whimpered as she curled up into herself, making herself as small as possible. Her long hair hid the terrified look in her eyes. If David knew what she had done, she wasn't sure that he wouldn't kill her right then and there.
"BULLSHIT! Bull shit you didn't know!" Fay cussed as she spat in Star's direction. That lying minx had known exactly what she was doing, but it seemed to her that she was the only one that could see through Star's act. At Fay's outburst, Star visibly flinched as if she had been struck and kept herself huddled against Marko, who didn't know what else to do. Star was David's girl and he knew that David wasn't going to take what Fay had done lying down. But why would Fay verbally and physically attack David's girlfriend? It didn't make any sense…unless that whole vision thing that Fay had had wasn't complete bullshit like David and Paul said it was.
"If you say one more word I'll kill you." David said softly in Fay's face and by god did he mean it. Fay, Dwayne and Paul stared at David gob smacked, as if they couldn't believe what he had just said. Marko looked at David and then to Fay in alarm, but behind the curtain of her curls, Star smiled a little.
"Star?" Said a small, quiet voice that caught the Lost Boys attention immediately. While the fight had been going on, no one had noticed the tiny figure of a ten-year-old boy curled up in a nook behind the bed. When Fay had walked into the cave, Star had told him to hide but he wasn't fast enough and the vicious woman had caught sight of him just as he wedged himself into his hiding spot. The fighting had started when Fay had caught Star trying to hide the bejeweled bottle that Laddie had gotten a hold of when Star wasn't looking and before Star could begin to explain, Fay had pounced at her screaming blue murder.
Dwayne and Paul looked at each other in utter shock and surprise while Marko just blinked, utterly flabbergasted. What the hell was a kid doing in here? How the hell did the kid even get down here? What the hell was going on? Lucky for them David's mind was as sharp as an ice pick and he put two and two together almost instantly. If he had been a cobra, he would have spread his hood and spat venom when his eyes zeroed in on the pint-sized child that carried an unusual scent to him, a not-quite-human smell that any vampire with half a brain could pick up on. Laddie's eyes went huge when he met David's deadly stare. Maybe it was the mouthful of razor-sharp fangs or maybe it was the demented look in David's eye, but whatever it was Laddie had never been so scared in his life. And he had good reason to because right then, David snapped.
"No David! Don't hurt him!" Star screamed as she wrenched herself away from Marko and sprang away from the couch like a startled deer, running to reach the boy before David did. It was noble of her, but her efforts were in vain because before she even got halfway across the cave David had fallen upon the child like a bird of prey, trapping the kid in his unbreakable grasp. Laddie let out a terrified squeal as David yanked him off his feet and held the ten-year-old at eye level, petrifying the child with a blood-curdling snarl that nearly sent everyone else in the cave running.
"Star!" Laddie yelped as David's fangs flashed in the firelight just as the cave erupted in a hellish cacophony of ear-splitting screams, roars and shrieks. In a blind panic, Laddie instinctively lashed out at David with his leg, ramming his knee into David's demonic face, slamming his mouth shut with a loud snap. The kid could pack quite a kick because David almost bit off his own tongue as his teeth snapped together. David shook his head as a leather clad arm came out of nowhere, forcing David backwards as Dwayne wrapped his arm around the vampire leader's neck, trying to force David to drop the kid while David fought to sink his fangs into the child's neck and rip his throat out.
"He's just a kid David! He's just a kid!" Dwayne yelled as he struggled with David, hanging onto David with everything he had while David bucked and yanked to the side, dragging Dwayne and Laddie with him.
"Get the kid!" Fay shrieked in a vocal range that was borderline banshee and Paul did not have to be told twice. The kid's screams of terror rang through the cave as he found himself in the middle of a savage tug-of –war battle, Dwayne trying to fend David off of him while David just exploded into an unchecked fury, driving the other vampire back under a vicious onslaught after having freed himself from Dwayne's hold by head butting the other vampire. Star was screaming at David to stop as she threw herself onto the enraged vampire, but she didn't last two seconds before she was tossed aside like a discarded rag doll. Marko scrambled to his feet as he and Paul quickly circled the two fighting vampires, waiting for the right moment to jump in and separate them. A roar of pain from Dwayne was the signal and the two blondes torpedoed into the fray, Marko going for the kid as Paul took a blow from David that was aimed to knock Dwayne senseless.
"Stop it! Boys stop it!" Shouted an urgent female voice, whether it was Fay's or Star's it was near impossible to tell above the uproar. Laddie was screaming, David and Dwayne were snarling at each other, Paul was cursing like a drunken sailor, Marko was trying to make himself heard about the others and Star was quietly crying as she watched the four boys duke it out on the cave floor. Fay hadn't moved from where she stood as she watched the entire thing take place, not knowing what to do. When she saw Marko crawl out from underneath Dwayne and David with Laddie safely tucked under one arm, she knew that she had to act fast or one of the boys was going to end up seriously injured or most likely dead. David's ferocity had shocked her to the core. Since when did he get to be this strong? She had seen him fight but this…this was nuts. How the child had managed to trigger David's rage was beyond her but right now she had to worry about preventing the berserk vampire from biting Dwayne's head off, something that he was nearly succeeding in doing despite Paul's best efforts.
"Oh Laddie, are you ok!" Star said breathlessly when she took the young boy off of Marko and hugged him to her, checking him over to make sure he was ok. The poor kid was too scared to reply as he hid behind her and buried himself into the protection of her gypsy skirt, trembling like a frightened animal.
"David…stop…it…" Paul gasped as he pried David's claws from his throat, deep scratch marks appearing on his pale throat, deep enough to draw blood but not sever any major veins or the like. David's lion-like growl was answered with an equally brutish snarl of warning from Dwayne as he picked himself up off the ground and bulldozed his way into the two others, his teeth striking flesh as he snapped at David's face like a wolf, his jaws latching onto the side of David's lower jaw and when he had a solid enough grip, Dwayne shook his head as he delivered a below the belt blow to David's abdomen. David let out a shriek of rage that put Fay's to shame as he released his hold on Paul and turned all of his attention onto the vampire that was chewing on his face. If it had been bad before it was a whole lot uglier now. Paul rolled out of the way just as Dwayne and David crashed into the side of the fountain, landing between the metal arms of the busted chandelier as they ripped into one another like a pair of wild animals, all sense of self-preservation gone. Marko dragged Paul away from the fountain as they both watched awe-struck as the two vampires tore into each other, using their teeth to inflict grievous wounds to exposed and covered flesh. The battle was brief but very bloody and before long it was obvious that Dwayne was going to loose. He gave just as good as he got but David was just too damn strong.
"Oh my god." Star whimpered as she looked away, tears spilling from her eyes as she fell to her knees and hugged Laddie to her, unable to watch David deliver the final strike. It was all her fault, she had caused this and because of her mistake Dwayne was going to die. Marko and Paul looked on in disbelief and anguish, knowing that they could not interfere unless Dwayne called for assistance and right now, he was beyond spoken words.
"Sekhmet give me strength." Fay murmured to herself as she strode forward purposely, eyes closed but head held high and shoulders squared. David's teeth were gripping Dwayne's unprotected throat and he paused for a moment before giving Dwayne the killer bite and just as his fangs began to break skin something solid slammed into the wounded side of his face, strong enough to catch his attention but only just. Fay could have gone at him with a two-by-four and it wouldn't have made a difference. Unless she had super-human strength, which she didn't, any chance of her bodily getting David off of Dwayne at this point was non-existent.
"Abbastanza." Enough. That one word was enough to freeze David to the spot. No one else had heard it but him and even in this far gone primitive state of mind that he was in, a part of him realized that the voice had come from within. Four sets of claws, two of them in plain view the other two hidden. If he had been expecting it, there was no way that this could have worked, but seeing that all of his attention was focused on killing Dwayne Fay had made the decision to risk it. Knowing that it had worked once all those months ago, Fay was banking on it that her mental prowess would pay off once more and thank the lord and everyone else up there that it did. With Fay's mind latched onto his own, David found himself unable to move a muscle and everyone in the cave held their breath as they waited for either he or Fay to move. When David's mind registered this, the mental walls went up moments later as Fay stared down at him with oddly blank eyes, her cane still held at shoulder level, poised to come slamming down yet again if he managed to break her control. The only thing was this time the hidden sword end was unsheathed and ready.
"No." David's mind managed to spit the word out as the world slowly began to come back into focus and the deep haze of red that had impaired his vision was slowly starting to fade away. The muscles in Fay's face twitched slightly as she redoubled her efforts, keeping a firm hold on David's mind, immobilizing the vampire as she slowly lowered her arm and brought the tip of the slender sword to David's mouth, carefully inserting the steel into the space between his molars like a bit, just enough so that she could pry his mouth open even as he fought her. With the pressure of the blade pressing down on his lower jaw, David's mouth slowly opened, releasing his hold on Dwayne's throat. Dwayne coughed raggedly as he swallowed, finally free of David's killer jaws. It had felt as if he had been mauled by a rabid pit bull with jaws of solid steel, that's how strong David's bite was.
A low growl came from David as his eyes narrowed just as Fay relinquished her mental hold on him, allowing him mobility once more. Like a steel trap that had been sprung, David's jaws snapped shut on the sword, his teeth scrapping against the cold metal as Fay wrenched her arm back, yanking the sword out of his mouth as the razored edge bit into the tender flesh of his mouth, slicing open a gash two inches long that ran from the left corner of his mouth up to the middle of his cheek. Star let out a startled gasp as David flung himself away from Fay, screaming out as the stinging pain blossomed into a lance of intense heat as he clutched the side of his face with both hands, covering the wound. Fay watched David with a look of sadness and regret that belonged on the face of a person four times her age as she slowly raised the blade and glanced at the blood soaked tip and then at the slick surface of the steel, taking note that the holy oil on the blade had not dried up yet. The wounds inflicted by the weapon were meant for Max alone but as much as she hated to use the sword on one of the boys, she wasn't going to let Dwayne get slaughtered if she had anything to do with it. David would never forgive her for this but judging on what she had just seen, it looked like David and the others were not going to be around much longer for her to even explain her actions
"What did you do to him!" Star yelled as she brushed passed Fay and ran over to David's side, falling to her knees as she cradled the injured vampire to her, coaxing his bloodied hands away from his face. And surprisingly enough David allowed her to touch him despite the amount of pain he was in. Marko and Paul didn't get any closer as they took everything in, still wary of David and Fay. This was the first time that they had ever seen David loose control completely and need I say it scared them shitless. Paul nearly jumped right out of his skin when he felt someone grab his hand and when he looked down he saw that it was the kid clinging to him, looking about as scared as he was.
"Hey little man." Paul said weakly as he gave the kid a half smile before Star's strangled gasp instantly caught his attention.
"You bitch! How could you?" Star gasped breathlessly as she finally saw the extent of David's wounds. They were not pretty. Holy oil has a nasty habit of eating away at the skin longer than holy water because the oil stays in the wound. It was going to be about two weeks before David went back to looking like his normal, smirking self and from then on, he would always smirk on the left side. Even thought the wound would be completely healed and barely a mark left on his skin, his facial muscles were going to develop an annoying habit of tensing slightly whenever he smiled and hence the origin his infamous trademark.
The look Star gave Fay was shot right back at her, but the intensity was doubled. Injuring David was regrettable, even if Fay butted heads with the guy on a daily basis. But killing Star was not a problem in her books and when Star quickly realized this she instantly averted her eyes off of the witch as Fay wiped the end of her sword along her shirt before sliding it back into the hollow shaft.
"Marko, a little help here." Fay said, unable to bend over to hoist the injured vampire to his feet. Marko kept his distance around Fay as he went over to Dwayne and slung the guy's arm around his neck, helping his to his feet before guiding him over to the partially torn couch. When Dwayne was settled Fay slowly approached David and Star, feeling all eyes watching her every move.
"You keep away from him. Don't you come any closer." Star said, instantly going on the defensive as Fay came closer. Fay couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Star as the girl let go of David and stood up, planting herself between the vampire and the witch. Could this actually be the simpering doe-eyed floozy that Fay had been clawing at only moments ago? In under ten minutes the girl had actually managed to develop a spine. My this night was just full of surprises. Fay just snorted and went to step around her but Star moved with her, blocking her way. Marko chewed nervously on his finger nails as he watched the two girls, knowing full well that the hurricane that had blown into the cave was not yet over.
"Move." Fay said flatly, coming to a standstill, waiting for the girl to get out of her way.
"You stay away from." Star said, not budging an inch even when Fay's eyes narrowed. To her, the cane wielding woman was crazy and dangerous but she wasn't as strong as she appeared to be and like hell was she going to let her hurt David again. "You're nothing but a bully." She said softly with more bravado then she really had at the moment.
"Oh really?" Fay said calmly, eyeing the girl as one would eye an annoying yapping little dog. "Listen girl, hurting David was unintentional and regrettable as much as I hate the guy but separating your head from your shoulders is something that I would do without thinking twice. And don't think I won't." Fay hissed softly, stepping closer so that she and Star were practically standing nose to nose, glaring coldly at one another.
"You wouldn't succeed." David spoke up, his words muffled slightly but clear enough for them all to hear. Fay leaned to the side as she peered over Star's shoulder, watching the vampire slowly get to his feet.
"David if one person is going to die tonight, it's this one here. What do I have to do to make you all realize what idiots you're being? Do you honestly think that I lied about what I said before? The ability to see into the future is something that my family is famous for. Sure not everything comes to pass and things aren't exactly what they seem, but as sure as the metal rode in my back is real, what I saw was the cold hard truth. Why do you have to be so stubborn for?" Fay said as she stepped away from Star as David walked forward. For a moment Star actually thought that she had won one over Fay but when she felt David's presence behind her, she quickly stepped to the side letting David and Fay face one another. David still had a bare hand pressed against the left side of his face and the demonic visage was gone once again, but that didn't make him any less frightening or intimidating. It was the cold edge in his eerie blue eyes that made Fay take another step back out of caution, which was something that she would have never have done on any other given day.
"Leave Fay." Those were his exact words and once they were spoken, Fay knew that she couldn't do anything to change them. She didn't have what it took to fight it out with him right then and they both knew it. The two stared at one another for a while, guarded looks that were near impossible to decipher. By the end of it Fay knew that all she could do was beat a graceful retreat and leave it at that…for now.
"Fine David. I'll leave and I won't come back here, but not until we agree on something." She said with a tired sigh, leaning on her cane as she regarded them all with a worn expression that had not been on her face moments ago. She looked as if she had aged ten years in the time span of ten seconds.
"What?" David asked as Star edged closer to him, wrapping a comforting arm around his as she leaned against him, her soft brown eyes making it clear that Fay was no longer welcomed here. Fay bit back a growl at the girl's actions as she let herself get pushed further away from her adopted family. First Max and now Star. And there Fay stood all alone as she let another edge in to take her place, knowing that she was powerless to stop it from happening. Fay knew that Star's presence here spelled disaster, even if the others refused to believe it. All she could do was step aside and do what she has to do from afar in order to keep the boys safe. After all, that was all that really mattered.
"We work together in order to get rid of him, and once he's gone we settle this for good." She said, settling her cane in front of her as she waited to see what David would say. Dwayne slowly opened his eyes as he realized what Fay was implementing and Marko had to force him to lie back on the couch as he tried to protest against it. Paul swallowed nervously as he looked over at Dwayne and Marko, desperate to do something, anything to make the madness end. But all three of them knew that no matter how much they wanted to speak out against it, they couldn't. This was something between the leaders and when it came to vampire politics, underlings had no say. If you take Max out of the picture it was plain to see where David and Fay stood in the midst of it all. David, being the most powerful vampire and the sire to the others, retrained the dominant, head of the house like figure, or in simpler terms, the father figure. Fay, even though she was not undead, stood that the dominant female position, the mother figure. And now, as you all can see quite clearly, mom and dad were in the midst of getting a divorce.
"Agreed." David replied, nodding his head slightly to seal the deal. And it was done; there was no going back on it now. Once they managed to finally kill Max, Fay and David would face each other and battle it out for the right to lead the Lost Boys. Marko whined softly as Dwayne closed his eyes, his ashen face grim and troubled. Laddie, somehow sensing Paul's sadness, squeezed his hand as he leaned into him, letting Paul ruffle his hair as the vampire looked up at the ceiling, unable to look at the others. Fay closed her eyes for a moment before she too nodded and with that, she turned and began to make her way to the mouth of the cave. She stopped for a moment as her gaze lingered on Marko and she gave him a small smile that he returned. She shook her head ever so slightly when Dwayne met her gaze, knowing full well that he would leave with her if she said the words. If Dwayne even so much as got up off that couch, David would finish him without a second thought. It was best to keep him alive at a distance than dead in her arms.
"Take care of the child for me." Her voice whispered in Dwayne and Paul's head, regarding them both with a pleading look before she began to pick her way up the ramp of compact rubble. From that very night onward Paul and Dwayne, rivals for Fay's affection, would share responsibility for Laddie, taking the half-vampire under their wings just as Fay had asked them to, making sure to keep a watchful eye on the boy while they both taught him how to survive on the wild side. Without looking back, Fay made her way to the top of the ramp and vanished into the dark entrance of the cave, keeping true to her word to never return to it while the others watched on in silence.
How could I have been so fucking stupid?