Midnight in the Garden of Evil
Chapter 6
~*~*~*~*~
And the silken sad
uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-
This it is, and nothing more."
Edgar Allen Poe
The Raven
~*~*~*~*~
Buffy couldn’t wait for
the day to end. It’d started off
badly when she’d wrenched her shoulder trying to move the dresser.
Usually it would have been a one-finger deal to retrieve the earring from
behind it, but today she hadn’t been able to move it at all.
Then there was the drudgery of book carrying.
How did normal people cope with lugging the weight of books around with
them? It was impossible!
All in all, by the time
she dragged her weary carcass into class she was severely drained and wanted
nothing more than to curl up and sleep. It
was only the fact that Xander kept nudging her that allowed her to listen to any
words of wisdom at all. What the
hell was a xylem anyway? And why
did she have to draw one?
Things got worse when she
did the usual library visit-age after school; Giles was beyond weird, Willow was
withdrawn and Xander was annoyingly perky.
There hadn’t been any monster infestation for an age and she was aching
for a good slay. Except, she
didn’t think she’d have the strength to wield a stake. This stupid flu bug really had a hold of her.
Still, once her Slayer healing kicked in, she’d be back at full
strength. Watch out Sunnydale when
that happened…
Also, there was something
a little ‘off’ about Willow. She’d
reacted to a taunt from Cordelia with unusual venom and Buffy was almost sure
she’d seen a flash in her eyes. As
long as it wasn’t hyena possession…because that just made her skin crawl.
Maybe it was just that time of the month.
When she’d asked her was she okay, Willow had almost snarled at her in
reply. Feeling hurt that her best friend seemed to be angry with her
for no reason, Buffy had spoken to Giles to see if he’d noticed anything odd.
“Well, other than the
fact that – as usual – you assumed Willow will help you, without bothering
to check first, no – not really. Don’t
worry Buffy, she’s just feeling taken for granted.
She’ll come round. I mean
really – what else does Willow have to do?”
Buffy had smiled weakly in
response. Although she was upset
that Willow didn’t feel comfortable talking to her about her feelings, part of
her was annoyed with the redhead. It’s
not as if she’d asked her to keep helping, in fact at first had said that she
absolutely shouldn’t – nor Xander. The
choice had been hers, so if she was changing her mind now…well, let her.
She didn’t need her. She
was the Slayer, one girl in all the world blah, blah, blah.
Except that right now,
sitting on the steps to gather her strength before she headed home, she really
didn’t feel particularly Slayer-like. Hot
and cold at the same time, aching bones and no energy, this flu bug had better
shift soon or Sunnydale’s demons would be throwing a party.
Still, time to slay. Better
make the effort.
She hadn’t asked Willow
to come with this evening; of course it was the usual thing that she’d go home
and then meet up with Willow and Xander somewhere along the way before heading
out to slaughter the demon population, probably taking in the Bronze before or
after…sometimes even during. But
she’d deliberately not mentioned anything to Willow when they parted and her
friend didn’t seem interested anyway. Xander
was absent, having skipped the rest of school after Biology class to go to some
stupid comic book convention.
Well she didn’t need
them, easier without really. The
slayer was supposed to be alone. Except,
why did it hurt her so much?
Heaving her aching body to
her feet she trudged home to get ready to slay.
~*~*~*~*~
“Evenin’, Red.
Good day at school with all those deadbeats?
Brought me a snack at all?”
“No, Spike.
I couldn’t care less about your diet.
I’m here for Drusilla. And
shouldn’t you be meeting Ripper now? You
know, for the plan?”
“I’m just off – keep
your knickers on! And it’s my
plan remember, I know what I’m doin’. Bloody
women, you always think you know best.”
“That’s because we do.
Where is she?”
“Dru?
She’s giving Miss Edith her tea and whatnot, or talking to the buggerin’
stars. Your guess is as good as
mine. She’s in the bedroom.”
Willow swept past him,
causing the vampire to assess her afresh. Gone
was the shy and meek student, who jumped at her own shadow.
In her place was a strong and assured woman, certain of her own power and
daring anybody to mess with her; daring him.
“Not bloody likely,”
he muttered under his breath “I like my head just where it is, on my neck,
thank you very much.”
He grabbed his duster,
shrugging it on as he swept out the door to disappear into the night and his
meeting with Ripper.
Willow ignored the
muttering and carried on towards the basement of the factory to find her
accomplice.
“Drusilla?
Drusilla?”
“Oooh -- have you come
to join the party? Miss Edith’s
been whispering naughty words and now she will have no cake.
Would you like her cake?”
Willow stared at the
deranged vampire who was sitting cross-legged on the bed surrounded by china
dolls in various stages of dismemberment. Miss
Edith, she presumed, was the one whose head had been ripped completely from its
body. Interesting.
“Drusilla, we’re going
out, remember? We have tasks to
complete, mayhem to create. You do
remember?”
“Oh!
The Slayer! We’re going to
hurt her…oh, yes please. I like that game.
I remember. Do you hear
that, Miss Edith? Mummy’s going
out to play.”
The gleeful look on
Drusilla’s face was disturbing. She
had the wide, trusting eyes of a child and the ivory pale features of a noble
lady. But behind that visage was a
deranged and vicious killer. Willow
found the entire package strangely alluring and had a sudden urge to touch the
vampire, kiss her, bite her.
Drusilla turned to her,
eyes closed as she swayed from side to side.
“I can feel you, inside my head…but you want to be inside my
body…don’t you?” Her eyes
opened suddenly, fixing Willow with her intense gaze, before dropping her lashes
to peep coyly from beneath them. She
held out a pale hand, Willow grasped it before she could think further and
helped her to her feet. Drusilla
kept hold of her hand as she smoothed her long, white dress with the other.
“Shall we go and play
now? Then we can tell Miss
Edith all about it later.” She
bit her bottom lip between her white, even teeth and her face creased up into a
beaming smile. Releasing Willow’s hand she turned to walk away then stopped
and walked back to press a brief, cool kiss on her lips.
The contact shot through Willow’s body like an electric shock, her eyes
darkening as Drusilla danced away from her.
The feeling was intoxicating and she would have more.
But later, after the Slayer had been dealt with.
It was time to pay a visit to Xander.
Giggling and girlish, the
vampire skipped after the witch, out of the factory and towards their
pre-arranged meeting with Xander Harris.
~*~*~*~*~
“Ripper?
You in here?”
“In the back, Spike, and
keep it down a bit -- it’s Mr. Giles while we’re in the school.
And what are you doing here, we’re supposed to meet at the top of
Revello Drive?”
“Got bored.
You want one?” Spike offered, sitting on the counter and lighting up a
cigarette.
“No, thanks.
And mind the books. These
occult references are vital, don’t need them getting singed.”
“You ready or what?
I’m itching for some action -- can’t wait to get my hands and…
other bits…on her goodies.”
Ripper fixed him with a
steely glare. “Spike, cool it –
for fuck’s sake. We’re doing
this professionally. I’ll sort
something else if you can’t handle it.”
Spike snorted.
“Oh, please! Like your bloody Slayer’s a match for me.
I’ve drained two of ‘em, mate, or did you forget.
It’s just she’s so…juicy and ripe.
Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.
Never crossed your unsullied mind, eh?”
“Not my type.
Too bloody pure of mind and spirit; wouldn’t want to be OD’ing on
that anytime soon. No.
But later maybe, once she’s seen the light... or should that be the
dark?
The vampire smirked, not
if he had anything to do with it. Once
Buffy Summers was messing with the dark side, he’d kill anybody else who laid
a finger on her. Her torture was
his to administer and he wouldn’t be needing help from anyone.
The librarian settled his
spectacles back on his nose and gathered up his awful tweed jacket.
Noting Spike’s smirk, he spoke darkly, “Shut up, Spike.
This may be the worst suit you’ve ever seen, but it’s got long
pockets, plenty of room to hide the necessities to wipe the smile off your face.
Just watch it!”
Spike shrugged, he had
better things to do than taunt the former Watcher. Like killing a Slayer…He slid off the counter and followed
Ripper out of the library and into the night.
When they reached Revello
Drive, Ripper let himself in with the key that Joyce had given him earlier, in
case of emergencies whilst she was out of town. Both of them swept through the door, Spike having
confirmed to Ripper that the place was empty.
Buffy would be out on her nightly slay, but the homecoming would be
something out of the ordinary. Spike
stifled a laugh of pure delight as he strolled through the home of the Slayer,
picking up her scent everywhere he walked.
He amused himself by fingering the panties in her drawers and kicking
stuffed toys around the bedroom, sneering at the boy band posters adorning the
walls. Such innocence prickled at
his skin and made him itch. He
couldn’t wait to put paid to all that purity and turn the Slayer to the dark
side.
The ringing of the phone
jerked him back to reality and he hurtled down the stairs to listen in on the
conversation. He caught Willow’s
voice on the other end and smiled as he heard Drusilla cooing and singing in the
background.
Ripper replaced the
receiver. “They’ve got
Xander.”