Note: So much has happened in this last week... *sigh*
My dad was put in the hospital because his oxygen
level was dangerously low, they did tests on his
heart, and found that a valve wasn't working right...
They fixed it, though *relieved smile* he goes home
today... And *then* last night at around seven, my
niece-in-law's water broke and they induced labor...
So... I should be a great-aunt anytime now... *grin*
so... that's why I'm late... This is gonna be a great
Christmas... A NEW BABY!!!!! Anyway... enough of my
rambling, I'll go ahead and shut up and give you guys
another part of Down Poison...
*~*~*~
If you could step into my head
Tell me, would you still know me?
-3DoorsDown-
"So I Need You"
*~*~*~
*~ Willow... She had a name. She had an identity. She
had a purpose. Find the slayer, Faith, and kill her.
She looked at Angelus and touched his face with one
bloody hand. She stared at it, the blood on her hands,
and felt a horror so deep and so complete, there was
nothing else. There was such a contrast between the
paleness of his skin and the blood on her hand,
staining her fingers. She pulled her hand away as if
she'd been burned, holding it and the other one away
from her body as if they were contaminated.
*~ Then she noticed the rest of it, all over her
clothes. She stood up, backing away from the bed, her
breath coming in quick gasps as hysteria flew over
her. "Willow," Angelus's voice came through the haze,
and she snapped her attention back to his face, his
voice. "Willow, talk to me, what's wrong?" His hands
were on her shoulders, touching the bloodied fabric of
her t-shirt. She pulled away, her lips curling in
disgust.
*~ "Don't touch me," she almost shouted, her voice
high and frightened. His expression closed off and he
let go of her so suddenly she stumbled. She scrubbed
her hands against each other, holding them out between
them, her bottom lip trembling. "I- is this my blood,"
she asked, frightened, her heart beating impossibly
fast, and his face softened. "Is this my blood!?" Her
voice rose to a near shriek when he didn't answer
immediately.
*~ "Yes," he answered, his voice a harsh whisper.
*~ She stripped her t-shirt over her head, looking
down at the pink stained skin beneath it. There was
nothing left of her wounds, not even scars. Her
trembling hands touched the place the knife had gone
in, and she whimpered. She saw a flash of dark hair
and a devil-may-care grin, a twist of blood-red lips,
then felt the pain... She doubled over, falling to the
ground. Angelus caught her and held her tight to him
when she weakly struggled to get away.
*~ "You don't want to touch me," she whispered. "I'm
dead. I'm unclean."
*~ If anything, Angelus held on tighter. "You are the
same as I," he whispered, his voice hoarse with real
emotion, a hint of his old Irish brogue peeking
through. "And I won't let you go."
*~ She lifted her frightened, tear tained face to look
at him. "Promise?"
*~*~*~
*~ "I promise," Angelus said, his voice deadly
serious. She was his now, and there was nothing that
could take her away. He'd watched her for so long,
loved her for so long, that he didn't know what it was
like not to. Even when he'd been Buffy's lapdog, he'd
watched Willow. But she had always been off limits, a
beautiful innocent who was in more danger from him
than she was from anyone else.
*~ But now... now she needed him. And he needed her.
This was the golden opportunity to destroy both
Slayers and those insipid friends of hers. She was
strong, stronger than he could ever dream of being.
And her strength was his to use. All he had to do was
posion her against Buffy as well as Faith, and then he
would have the upper hand.
*~ "Let's get you cleaned up, lovely," he said, gently
pulling her to her feet. "Then I have some people I
want you to meet." It was too soon to take her to the
slayers, but he needed to show her to his childer, to
make sure they knew who and *what* she was, and not to
mess with her.
*~*~*~
*~ Willow stood beside Angelus, squeaky clean and
dressed in one of Ducilla's dresses. It was way too
big for her and trailed on the ground around her feet.
All in all, she looked like a little girl playing
dress-up. If it wasn't for the blank, slightly curious
look on her face, she could have pulled the innocent
look off perfectly. As it was, she just looked lost.
*~ "Daddy, she's broken," Drucilla pouted as she stood
beside Spike, who was sitting in a beautifully
upholstered chair that matched the rest of the
furniture in the main parlor of the mansion.
*~ Willow's head cocked to the side as her green eyes
focused solely on the dark haired vampiress, her quick
mind devouring and cataloguing every detail. "Yes, she
is, Dru, but it's up to us to fix her," Angelus said,
his voice like velvet. Willow turned her attention
back to him.
*~ "How d'you propose we do that," Spike spoke up,
propping his head up on his hand. Willow's eyes fell
on him and he was hard pressed to stop the shiver that
went down his spine at the blank look in her eyes.
"And what the fuck happened to her, anyway?"
*~ "That's what we need to find out," Angelus said,
moving to sit down on the sofa, pulling Willow down
beside him. "Do you remember anything of what happened
before you woke up here?" He asked her.
*~ She shook her head after a hesitation. "Nothing,"
she said, her voice as blank as her expression.
*~ "Try harder," Ducilla said suddenly, moving to
kneel in front of Willow, her pale hands falling to
rest on Willow's knees. "It's just beneath all the
hurt. Try *harder*" Willow closed her eyes. It was a
minute before there was any change, but it happened
fast.
*~ Her entire body tensed and her breathing came
quicker. Angelus's hold tightened on the little
redhead as her eyes rolled back into her head. It was
over in less than a minute. "Faith. The girl's name is
Faith. I was there to help her..." Her eyes clouded
over and she shook her head violently. "No." She
pushed away from Angelus with a burst of strength he
had only glimpsed before. She paced the living room,
her movements almost liquid in their agitated grace.
*~ She shook her head again violently and looked at
Angelus with wide, pleading eyes. "I can't remember
anymore, please. It... it hurts to remember." She put
her hands over her ears in a gesture reminicent of
Drucilla and whimpered to demonstrate her point.
Amazingly, it was Dru who moved forward to comfort the
small redhead.
*~ "Shh, lovely, it's okay," Dru murmured, pulling the
girl into her arms soothingly. The boys looked on in
amazement as Willow went willingly into her arms and
buried her face in the vampiress's shoulder.
*~ "I- I don- don't want to remember," the redhead
gasped. "It hurts... It hurts so bad..."
*~ "I know, little tree, I know," Dru crooned,
stroking her hair gently. She pulled the both of them
to sit in the armchair and she cradled the smaller
girl on her lap like a mother would a child. "It's
okay... Mummy won't let the nasty Slayer hurt you
again."
*~ "She hurt me," Willow whispered, her face buried in
Drucillia's shoulder.
*~ "And we're going to hurt her, my little blossom,"
Dru promised, her dark eyes finding and holding those
of her sire. "We're going to make her pay, I promise."
*~*~*~