Author: Tygerlily
Email: Angelusblood@yahoo.com
Rating: Hard R
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the series are property of Joss Whedon and any and all other companies affiliate with either series. This novel is purely for entertainment and should be used as such. However, any and all unrecognizable characters [i.e. original] are the sole property of Tygerlily [me] and are not to be used without my direct permission.
Warning: Keeping in mind the ending of the first book, the beginnings of this book are particularly dark. Nothing too drastic mind you but there is a certain tone that some might not be comfortable with. You’ve been warned…
Summary: A seemingly young man stumbles through one of the few cobble-stone streets left in Prague, a light dusting of snow blankets the ground, although he pays neither it nor the cold any mind. It has been almost a year since he lost her; a year since he's followed one dead end lead after the other. There is never any form of release, for life's nightmares follow him into the world of unconscious, sending him blissfully torturous dreams of her. Always of her…
Author Note: Well, it’s finally here: the second book in the Bittersweet series. I apologize its taken so long to get it posted but, I’m hoping that later is better than never and that someone out there is still reading this. So whoever you are… enjoy!
Chapter One – The Wanderer
A man stumbled drunkenly through the shadowed streets of Prague; a light dusting of snow blanketed the ground. Although, he paid neither it nor the cold any mind, brown locks fell limply over his rather dull icy blue eyes, shielding them form the chilly winds. The temperature is below freezing and the biting winds nip at the seeming frail man’s alabaster skin. Blearily, he looked up at the pre-dawn sky while stumbling along the otherwise deserted street. The sound of shattering glass caused the man to pause, but only for moment when realized that he was in fact the cause of the sound. He stared dumbly down at the now broken bottle, the dark liquid quickly bleeding into the white snow. Swallowing, he sniffed indifferently; shrugged his shoulders and kicked the glass before moving down the road.
The winds picked up, blowing in from the north and whistled viciously against the man’s bare hands causing him to clench them into fists. He then stuffed them into his threadbare pockets, though it did little to shield them from the cold, it did offer some relief. His nights seemed to blur into one another, it had been that way for quite some time. Although he kept in close company with a bottle, he never dared to seek the services of someone to help keep his bed warm. That would be the ultimate betrayal and that was something; he swore that he’d never do to her. He was slowly drowning and though he continued to search for her, his confidence and sheer will was fading… and fast.
It’s been almost a year since he lost her, a year since he began continuously following one dead end lead after the other. He and the others he traveled with had been here in this particularly damned city for nearly three weeks and still they weren’t any closer to finding her. Right after she had been taken from him, they spent another good too months in Paris just trying to figure out a place to start looking.
He and his comrades had scoured the city from top to bottom and yet still nothing. Finally, after almost ten weeks of searching, he overheard a couple of Cloaker demons speaking to one another in hushed tones about the changes in this particular world. However, what interested him was when the clan of Aurelius was mentioned. Although, the once strong vampiric clan of the Aurelius had been basically wiped out, there was still himself, Drusilla and Angelus left and all three were masters in their own right.
It was then they went on to speak of Drusilla and the recent creation of a new childer, which truly shocked most in the demonic community. After William the Bloody, no one believed her to take another childer. As the Cloaker demons continued to gossip, he was able to gather enough information to realize that Drusilla was not only no longer in Paris but had left France altogether.
With that in mind, he swiftly made his way back to where he and the others were staying and mapped out a plan. Even through her madness, Drusilla had a pattern, one just had to pay close enough attention and all he could hope for was that Drusilla didn’t get an urge to be spontaneous. After that, they spent the next several months chasing one lead after another only to come up empty.
However, what brought them to Prague wasn’t an empty lead but a dream. He never truly slept anymore, always seeming to run on some form of autopilot. At the time, he was almost sure that he was hallucinating and that he’d finally lost it. When he woke, he just knew that they that had to make their way to Prague, not that he was met with much argument since none were enjoying their stay in Rome.
Sighing heavily, it was clear from the way the sky was beginning to lighten that he didn’t have much time until dawn. The pattern was always the same; he’d sleep the day away, either from exhaustion or sheer drunkenness, then as soon as the sun would set, he’d go out. Spending the evenings and late into the night in the company of a bottle and the empty streets of whatever city they were in. It was only when the sun would rise, did he drag his broken and tired body back, before crawling into his bed. Where he’d stay awake as long as his body would allow before he’d fall into a dream world that gleefully taunted him.
He knew the torturous pattern all too well and even though he longed for it to end, he truly didn’t see any end of it in sight. Sighing heavily, he made his way back towards the rather large and expensive apartment complex, where he and his crew were staying. The dangerous smell of the sun was getting stronger, as he stumbled drunkenly along the streets. Bumping into a homeless man, he unequivocally tells the broke bastard to bugger off, when the man rasped out a request for spare change.
Offended, the man brazenly pushed against the drunken vampire and let out a rather lewd curse. Growling in frustration, blue eyes flashed a brilliant color of gold before pulling back to let loose a punch to the poor man’s jaw. The now unconscious man slipped to the ground with a sickening thud. Sniffing against the cold, the vampire leaned down and picked up the man up by the scruff of his neck before whispering:
“I haven’t had a proper meal in weeks, and seeing as how you’re rather large yourself, you’d be a very nice meal for my considerably empty belly. However, my girl would be quite upset with me if I were to you make you my dinner. So, I’ll be leaving you here now and thank whatever gods that are up there for sparing your worthless hide.” A sneer curled on his lips before he spat at the ground and moved along.
As he continued on his way, and became closer to his destination, a young lady hoping to show him a good time, for the right price of course crossed his path. In reality she couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old if that.
“How are you doin’ tonight, sweetheart?” A saccharine sweetness colored her voice.
With an amused snort, he shrugged the harlot off and continued on his way. Only to be stopped once again by the girl. Rolling his eyes heavenward, the vampire couldn’t help but wonder how mortals continued to thrive if they were all as ridiculously idiotic as this particular specimen. At the feel of her hand on his shoulder, a low growl crawled its way out from low in his throat and his eyes flashed gold. He then jerked back and whipped around to snarl viscously at the girl, her eyes widened in fright and she let out a shrill scream before stumbling down the street in the opposite direction.
Sighing heavily, his shoulders slumped at his own distasteful actions. His mate would’ve smacked him upside his head if ever pulled a stunt like that within her presence. He more than likely wouldn’t even be out at such a late and dangerous hour if he had his mate with him. All of a sudden, a young man stepped out from the shadows; it took the vampire a moment to realize that the young man is a police officer. A rookie from the looks of things, huffing in annoyance, he moved to step around the officer only to be stopped.
“Excuse me, sir,”
The vampire merely rolled his eyes heavenward, cocked back his fist and sent it flying. Normally, the young man would have fallen to the ground with a sickening thud. However, being as inebriated as he was, his blow barely clipped the officer’s jaw. Through a muddled haze, he realized that perhaps the rashness of his actions were a bit presumptuous. The young officer recovered quickly and threw himself at the vampire, though the attack could only be considered clumsy at best. Even in his intoxicated state, the vampire was able to easily avoid the attack and landed another and more forceful blow on the young man’s back. With an agonizing groan, the young officer collapsed onto the pavement with a nauseating crack as his skull collided with the ground.
His eyes widened in shock at his own actions, he then began to pant heavily as the realization of what had just occurred set in. Very slowly began to back away from the grisly scene, there was no telling if he were truly alone there and the last thing he needed was to be entangled in the mortal legal system.
Past experiences filtered through his mind and he knew that he had two choices. Take the man somewhere, where he might be able to receive necessary medical attention or move the man somewhere out of the way and clean up after himself. Either way he couldn’t just leave the officer out in the open.
Growling, he methodically went about the distasteful task of moving the man to a secluded area of the narrow street. It just wouldn’t do to have the officer out into the open, where the possibility of someone accidentally stumbling upon them was very high. He then picked up the officer by his shirt collar and half dragged the unconscious man out of the way. He then unceremoniously dropped the officer, who then slid back down onto the concrete with a dull thud.
Leaning down, the vampire tipped the officer’s head to the side and in turn exposed a very enticing expanse of neck. With a jerk of his head, the vampire’s ethereal humanoid features melted away and its place was the face of a demon.
He then pulled the officer into his arms and pushed his head to the side. Without hesitation, the vampire lunged forward and buried his fangs into the young officer’s neck. Dark red rivulets of blood slipped past the vampires lips and seeped into the shoulder of the officer’s uniform. Purring in satisfactory bliss, the vampire ripped viscously into the officer’s shoulder and drank deeply. The officer’s heart began to slow and his body soon began to cool, once the vampire had his fill, he let the body slip gracelessly to the floor. While he licked his lips, his demonic features faded away just as quickly as they had appeared. Although his heart was still heavy, his belly was now full and the muddled haze that he’d been wandering through the past few days was beginning to clear.
Whistling a jaunty tune, he leisurely made his way toward the upscale apartment complex only a few blocks away. He made it to the collection of buildings without incident, and as the sun crested over the horizon, the vampire slipped inside the upscale building, just escaping the sun’s harmful rays. A small smile curled on his lips when he nodded to the night doorman, before he made his way over to the collection of lifts just down the hall. Stabbing one of the illuminated buttons, he waited silently for the car to arrive. Another moment later, one set of double doors glided open and the vampire stepped inside.
One long, elegant finger reached out to gently press on of many the chrome buttons with the letter “P” etched on the surface. With that, the doors slid closed and the car began to move upward, the lift quickly scaled the building before settling to a halt on the top floor. Again the doors slid open revealing an elaborately decorated hallway and two, yet, very ostentatious looking doors. He silently stepped up to the door on the right, it took a short battle with the key card but after a few moments of fiddling with the piece of plastic, the vampire was able to enter the room.
With a heavy sigh, he shrugged of his jacket and let it fall in an unholy heap onto the floor, his shoes and shirt soon followed. He then bent down and removed his socks then running a shaky hand through his hair, he was now barefoot and only wore a pair of jeans that sat low on his lean hips. Tiredly, he fluffed his rather shaggy hair, as he made his way toward the bedroom. Collapsing on to the large bed, he was asleep even before his head hit the pillow.
*--------------------*
Azure-colored eyes snapped open as his body clumsily jerked forward. Panting heavily, a light sheen coated his forehead; he slowly began to take in his surroundings. He was more than shocked to find himself lounging in the sitting room which was situated in his suite of rooms at his family’s estate; Wood Anemone. It had been years since he’d been there last, after his own rebirth and the unsuccessful attempt at having his mother cross over with him, he had let all the servants go and the house, as well as the lands had been boarded up and fenced off. It was clear, do to the dimness of the room that it was well past sunset and that the blanket of night had fully settled over the estate.
However, even though everything looked the same, nothing felt the same. The quiescence that surrounded him now was unnerving at best and frightening at worst. His home, even at night was really anything but quiet. There was always some servant moving about, either doing chores that could only be done once the sun went down or the few that just could not find sleep, were allowed to wander the halls, so long as they didn’t make too much noise. Rising from his place on the chaise lounge, he tentatively moved toward the large ornate doors that led into out into the corridor.
Pulling back on the heavy wooden doors, the first thing he noticed was how desolate the hall felt. It had never felt that way in the past. Of course, when he was a child he abhorred having to venture out into the darkened corridors at night but other than that, they never sent chills like the ones rippling down his spine now. Shaking off the eerie feeling, he cautiously stepped out of the room and into the empty corridor.
His head jerked to the left, right and then turned back around to look back into the room at the feel of unsettling tingle at the back of his neck. It was then a gentle lilting sound reached his ears, although the melody was faint, even with his advanced hearing, he could tell that it was coming from the music room near the solarium downstairs. Giving the room one last curious glance, he slowly began to make his way down the corridor.
Everything was just how he had left it all those years ago; thick, plush drapes covered the ceiling to floor length windows and various portraits and other pieces of art that lined the walls were as beautiful as ever. It was as if nothing had changed over the past hundred years. Reaching the main hall, there was a double open staircase that was open to the first floor grand foyer. He reverently ran his fingers down along the beautiful polished stone banister as he made his way down the stairs. The gentle padding of his feet as they hit the stone echoed across the large space. Coming to a halt at the foot of the staircase, he then listened for the gently song that had called him downstairs to begin with.
It wasn’t long before the soft melody reached his ears and was once again making his way to the music room. Deciding to go through the solarium instead of around it, in order to get to the music room, he turned and made his way toward the large doors just underneath the stairs. Pulling back on the cool brass handle, he felt the warmer and more humid air cling to his skin as he made his way down the glass hallway. A quiet rustling near the rose bushes caught his attention and immediately caused him to pause. Icy blue eyes widened in surprise at the sight that greeted him.
Chrétien Fleur was a Frenchman who had been the main caretaker of Wood Anemone since he was a child. Chrétien was just a child himself when his own father had taken in him and had offered him room and board as payment for his services in the household. By the time he was a boy himself, Chrétien was grown and the current caretaker, and when his father had passed on, he truly so no reason to dismiss Chrétien, so he kept him on.
Aside from his numerous other duties, Chrétien loved to care for the gardens that littered the grounds and his favorite of them all was the solarium. Whenever he passed through the solarium on the way to his music lessons, Chrétien would always be there. However, as a young child he could not pronounce Chrétien and much to his delight Chrétien allowed him to call him ‘Flowers’. Ever since then, he had referred to the man as Flowers.
“Flowers! My goodness, what on earth is going on?” he asked curiously.
Flowers merely looked up from his roses, a blank expression fixed on his face. He eyed the young master of the house for a moment before returning his full attention to his roses. Distressed by his Flowers’ reaction, he moved to step toward the caretaker when the older man raised his eyes once more.
“She is waiting for you in the music room, Master William. I suspect that she’ll be quiet cross with you for being as late as you are. However, bring her this… I’m sure it’ll bring a smile to her lips and have her forget all about your tardiness.” Flowers said softly, before presenting him with a beautiful long stemmed white rose.
Eyeing the man’s outstretched hand wearily; he carefully took the rose from Flowers. Looking down at the beautiful blossom now in his hand, he couldn’t help but lift the rose to his nose and inhaled its scent. Memories long forgotten came rushing back, the sweet smell of roses in the summer, Flowers good naturally chasing him out of the gardens, though chasing him from the gardens none the less. Suddenly it dawned on him that he didn’t even know who “she” was.
“Oh, Flowers wait. Who are you talking about?” he asked curiously.
Flowers merely smiled before reaching down to pick up a basket full of different blossoms, freshly cut from the solarium. He then winked at the young man and turned his back to him making his way toward the opposite end of the indoor garden… the caretakers form soon faded into the leaves. Shaking his head as if to clear it, he once again looked down at the blossom clutched in between his fingers. He knew that something was very wrong here, yet he couldn’t help himself, as he gave the solarium one last fleeting glance before heading towards the music room. As soon as he left the solarium, a gentle and much cooler air enveloped his body, eradicating the humid mist that clung to his skin just a few moments before.
Again he reached a set of lavish double doors, from what he could remember, the doors to the music room sat on sliders and instead of opening outward like most doors, they slid into pockets inside the wall.
Pushing one of the doors open, he tentatively entered the room. The gentle song grew louder and the sight that greeted him was most unexpected. There dancing about the room was his lost mate as if she hadn’t a care in the world. As she twirled about the room, it was easy to see that she was as beautiful as ever.
Her normally light blonde locks had darkened to a gorgeous honey color and fell down to her waist in soft waves. She was wearing a beautifully cut emerald-colored floor length gown that accented her eyes perfectly. The long gossamer-bell-like sleeves swirled and gently moved with and against her movements as she continued to move about the room. It was William’s startled gasp that caused the young maiden to halt in her steps. At the sight of him, an exuberant smile curled on her lips.
“Oh, William, you’re finally here! I thought you weren’t coming,” she admitted softly.
“I’ll always come for you,” he responded automatically.
At his words, she smiled up at him brightly and William felt his heart melt immediately.
“I have something for you.” He said, a soft smile curling on his lips.
“Oh, what is it? Show me, please.” She squealed delightfully.
William chuckled at her childlike behavior before producing the rose with a dramatic flourish. Giggling in response, she plucked the rose from the tips of his fingers and brought the sweet smelling blossom to her nose.
“Thank you, William. It’s beautiful.” She smiled.
“’Lizabeth,” he murmured softly, as he gently ran the back of his fingers across her cheek. At the sight of her tongue darting out to nervous lick her lower lip, William could barely hold back a groan. Leaning down, he tentatively pressed his lips to hers. A soft whimper escaped her lips in response, which was all the encouragement he needed. His tongue then darted out and began to softly lick at her bottom lip, begging for entrance, which she immediately granted.
Growling possessively, he pulled her tight up against his body as the gentle beginning of the kiss began to melt away. The feeling of a small, warm hand stroking the column of his throat caused him to loosen his grip on her waist… slightly. Both were panting softly when he released her lips.
“Come; let us go for a walk. The solarium’s roses are beautiful this time of year.”
“William, Flowers is tending to the solarium right now. He always does at this time of night. You should know that better than anyone else. Why don’t we go to one of the outer gardens?”
“’Lizabeth, you know I don’t like you out at night. It doesn’t matter that we’re on my lands. I’m just not comfortable with you being outside so late, I mean who knows what truly is lurking about out there?” William said, authoritatively.
“Goodness, William. One would think with the way you’re talking that neither of can take care of ourselves. When we both know that is hardly the truth and besides, our world awakens once the sun sets.” She said, smiling serenely.
Elizabeth’s words caused an eerie chill to slither up his back and the unsettled feeling to return to his stomach. Although it all but dissipated when she bestowed upon him one of her beaming smiles, he then allowed her to pull him out onto the balcony over-looking one of the many outer courtyards. She then began to lead him down the spiraled stone staircase that connected the balcony to the grounds. William willingly followed but he couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that was beginning to brush the back of his neck.
“’Lizabeth, I don’t think we should be out here.” He said distractedly, his eyes scanning the darkness for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.
“Oh nonsense, William, you’re just being silly.” She said, playfully.
Already apprehensive, about being out in the gardens so late at night; William reached for Elizabeth and tucked her tightly into his side. He continued to eye the darkness warily, as they made their way down the winding cobble-stone path and through the trees. The sweet scents of Moonflower, Yucca and Jasmine surrounded them as they headed deeper into the garden.
“What was that?” William rasped, while stopping short at the sound of rustling near one of the hedges.
“I’m sure it was nothing. Come on, William, you worry too much.” Elizabeth replied teasingly, as she tugged on his arm to get him moving again. Although, still very wary, William offered Elizabeth a wan smile. Suddenly, Elizabeth slipped from William’s tight grasp and began to run ahead of him, heading deeper into the garden.
“Lizzy, what on earth are you doing? Get back here!” William cried out.
Elizabeth merely giggled coyly in response, as she continued to race toward the trees before slowly fading from sight. William’s eyes went wide as his mate slowly began to shimmer out of view, spurring him to propel his body forward. He then began running blindly toward the trees, weeding his way through the thick foliage, his movements became frantic when he couldn’t locate her.
“Lizzy, ‘Lizabeth, Elizabeth… where are you!?!” He shouted.
Gentle footsteps caused him to turn toward the sound, his eyes widening at the vision practically floating toward him.
“Drusilla?”
“What used to burn so brightly in the darkness is now being consumed by it. William, you must understand; she is lost in the dark. Although not alone, she cannot survive much longer. You must find her, you have to protect her… you are her guardian.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand!”
“Find her… before they do,”
*--------------------*
End of Chapter One
Author Note: Well, I hope it was worth the wait and reviews are both wanted and welcome. So, if you've got a second, leave one and let me know what you think. Suggetions/guesses of what will happen next are always fun to read too ^_^
Next: Spike wakes up and makes some plans, we also catch up with some of the Sunnydale gang.