Author: Jinni (druscilla@cox.net)
Rating: PG13 (for language)
Pairing: W/A/S
Summary: Mina’s overactive imagination and misconception about the Easter Bunny leads to a different kind of demon being set loose on LA.
~*~*~
“Did you get it?”
Spike rolled his eyes but gave the red head in front of him a smile anyway. The way she bounced from foot to foot when she was excited was just one of the many things she did that turned him on. “Nice to see you, too, pet. Yes, I got the bloody Tablet.” He pointed to the table near the door where he had placed the bundle. “Now, can I get a kiss from my favorite red haired witch?”
“I’m the only red haired witch you know.” Willow smiled, stepping forward to embrace her mate. She put a hand behind his head, pulling his mouth down to hers for a kiss. Time itself seemed to slow as the passion they felt for each other flared into a fire. Nearly two minutes later, when their mouths finally parted again, she winked at him. “How was that for a hello?”
“Nice.” The vampire drawled. He stepped away from her, checking his own desires, and gestured for her to get the package he had brought into the home. He wished that their ‘hello’ could have lasted even longer but he was supposed to meet Angel to talk to a client in less than twenty minutes.
Not to mention the fact that his little witch would want to examine her new treasure.
Tossing a hasty ‘thanks’ over her shoulder, the red head made her way to the table, unwrapping the precious bundle with delicate care. She couldn’t believe her good fortune when she had seen the object advertised on the Internet the week before. To think that a Tablet of D’Marte had been in LA for Goddess knows how long? It was pure luck that the shop owner didn’t know what he had been in possession of for those many months.
‘Or that a baddie didn’t find it first.’ Her thoughts insisted. That would have been awful. Made during the third century by an order of monks that were no longer in existence, the Tablets of D’Marte were phenomenal objects according to legend. The tales were sketchy, but supposedly the items were able to bring to life anything drawn upon them. The exact ritual to do so was something that Willow still had not been able to locate, however. ‘All that matters is that I have it and its safe.’
It wasn’t much to look at, she decided. Much like a modern children’s erasable drawing board with the only noticeable difference being that it was made of some sort of thin crystallized stone. The young witch made her way to Angel’s home office, next to their bedroom, and placed the artifact on his desk. When the dark haired vampire came home later with Spike they could decide as a family where to store the item for safekeeping.
~*~*~
Mina looked around her room. Books were scattered everywhere yet she still had not found the answer she was looking for. Not a single book her parents had ever bought her contained a mention of this ‘Easter Bunny’ her friends at school kept talking about. The kindergartener bit her lip in frustration. Her friend Janice from her class had said that the Easter Bunny would come at night early Sunday morning and leave treats. To Mina this sounded like a demon of sorts. Something that could sneak into a person’s home and leave things undetected just had to be a demon of some kind? At least it was a good demon. Of all the stories she had heard at school none involved the Easter Bunny doing anything other than leaving baskets of candy and treats.
Why had her mommy and daddies never mentioned the Easter Bunny? Janice had made it seem like this creature had visited her once a year for as long as she could remember. Mina couldn’t remember having gotten anything from an Easter Bunny ever. Not when she was little and not even now that she was grown-up.
Not a single time.
“He brings candy – jelly beans, chocolate, candy bars…” Mina whispered to herself, stating what she had heard at school in a matter-of-fact way. “Did the Daddies scare the Easter Bunny away before when he tried to bring my candy?” Her breath caught in her throat. That had to be it. The Daddies must not know that the Easter Bunny was a *good* demon and they had kicked him out of the house when he came to bring her candies! In her mind she could see her Daddies in their Grr-faces, throwing the Easter Bunny out, not knowing he was there to give her goodies.
“Well that just won’t work!” Strawberry blonde hair moved as she shook her head from side to side. Bending down, she patted her cat, Peaches, on the head. “You stay here, Peaches – I need to go talk to mommy. We *will* get candy this year.” The cat yawned and stretched before opening one eye long enough to make sure that there was no trouble. She was asleep again before Mina left the room.
It only took the child a moment to find her mother. She paused at the entrance to Daddy-Sire’s office, watching as her mommy worked on something at the computer. A small giggle escaped her lips at the look on her mommy’s face – forehead all wrinkly. Whatever mommy was working on, she obviously needed a break!
“Mommy?”
Willow looked up from the computer screen, giving her daughter a smile. “Mina. Done playing?”
Mina nodded, leveraging herself into one of the chairs near Daddy-Sire’s desk. She took a deep breath, deciding without realizing it to just tackle the situation head-on. “Mommy, why doesn’t the Easter Bunny visit me?”
The red head blinked. This wasn’t a question she had ever really prepared for. Mina was definitely too young to realize that Easter was a holiday celebrated by a religion none of her parents practiced. The concept of religion would be very difficult for someone as young as Mina to grasp.
”Is it because he’s a demon and he’s scared of my Daddies? You can tell him its okay. Daddy-Spike and Daddy-Sire won’t hurt him if we tell them he’s a good demon.” The child pressed on, assuming her mother’s lack of response was because of just that – not wanting to tell her the Daddies had made the Easter Bunny leave.
“What?!?” Willow laughed out loud. Sometimes the things Mina came up with in her little head were just too much. ‘A demon? The Easter Bunny? Oh, Goddess…’
Mina’s forehead crinkled in consternation. Why was mommy laughing at her? Didn’t she understand the seriousness of the situation? “Mommy? Did I say something funny?”
Willow allowed herself one last laugh before answering her daughter’s question. “No, sweetie, the question just caught me by surprise.” She paused. There really was very little harm in allowing Mina to experience the ‘Easter Bunny’ until she was old enough to understand everything better. ‘After all, how many times when you were little did you wish your parents would just let you have what everyone else in school had?’ She asked herself. Santa had been allowed in their lives from the very beginning, mostly because her mates enjoyed the idea of showering everyone in their lives with presents. Making a decision, the red haired witch gave her daughter a confused smile. “I’m really not sure why he hasn’t come before, but we’ll make sure he does this year, okay? But he’s not a demon, honey. Just a normal big bunny that gives kids candy, k?”
Mina nodded, not believing her mother about the demon thing. ‘She probably just doesn’t want to scare me. He *has* to be a demon, just like Santa Claus! How else do they get in the houses?’ She had never voiced her suspicions about Santa aloud and wasn’t going to start now, with mommy denying those same accusations about the Easter Bunny. She jumped down, giving her mother a hug. “Thanks, mommy!”
Willow grinned. “You’re welcome. Go back and play with Peaches, sweetie. I have work to do.”
“Ok.” Smiling to herself, the red haired child made her way back to her room, her heart much lighter now that the Easter Bunny would be allowed to visit. “You hear that, Peaches? We’re going to get candy!”
~*~*~
Through the thickness of sleep Mina heard doors in the apartment open and close, the sound of her Daddies voices bringing her to full wakefulness. She listened to the noise of their coming and going until at last their bedroom door shut. That had been close – she almost slept the entire night. If that had happened she never would have been able to make her surprise for her parents!
Creeping out of bed with hardly a whisper, the child pulled on the slippers next to her bed and tiptoed to her door. ‘Crayons and paper is in Daddy-Sire’s office.’ She thought, determination tingeing her thoughts. When she had first decided to make her mommy and daddies a picture, right before bedtime, she knew she would have to wait until everyone went to bed for it to be a surprise –t hen she would just go to Daddy-Sire’s office and color them an Easter Bunny.
‘To say thank you!’ Her heart thudded loudly in her chest as she crept past the door to her parents’ room. Luck was on her side - the door to the office was already open. With careful steps she made her way to Daddy-Sire’s desk, turning on the light. The noise was loud to her, and she waited a moment to see if her parents’ door would open. At last, assured that she was safe for the moment, she slid open the top drawer of the desk and pulled out her crayons.
“Where’s my paper-book?” She muttered, quietly rifling through the drawer. It wasn’t there. And it wasn’t in any of the other drawers, either, she concluded moments later. The child sighed, fatigue starting to come over her. Through tear-blurred eyes she looked at the desk in front of her, barely able to see above the edge. “Oh! A coloring board!”
Reaching as far onto the desk as she could, Mina grabbed onto the edge of the Tablet and pulled sliding it towards herself until it fell into her lap. When she could finally see the entire object she hesitated for a moment. It looked different from the coloring board she had played with at Janice’s house. This one was clear. And why would Daddy-Sire have it on his desk?
“Maybe he just wanted to color.” The whispered assurance she gave herself was all she needed to get the confidence to use the odd coloring board. Opening the box of crayons, Mina pulled out a pink crayon and began to draw the outline of a bunny. After all, mommy had said that the Easter Bunny was just one big bunny, hadn’t she? When that was done she selected a teal crayon, adding two large dots for eyes. “Pretty…” She grinned. But the Easter Bunny was a demon, wasn’t he? Grabbing a purple crayon out of the box, the red head drew a large horn on top of the Easter Bunny’s head. “All demons have horns, after all.
Twenty minutes and ten colors later, Mina yawned, pushing the Tablet back onto Daddy-Sire’s desk. Her mommy and daddies were sure to see it tomorrow while she was at school.
They would be so surprised!
~*~*~
“Fuck…” Willow looked down at the Tablet, so carefully colored, by her daughter, no doubt. It wasn’t the fact that the artifact was colored upon that worried her. No, the marks were easy to wipe off thanks to the magic that had helped make the object. It was that the creature, hideous as it was, could be wandering around LA at this very moment.
That worried her.
‘Probably no need to worry.’ She assured herself. ‘All of the legends said there had to be very specific circumstances for the pictures on the Tablet to enter reality. What are the chances that…?’
“Willow…?”
The red head looked up in time to see Angel enter the room, newspaper in hand. He thrust the article he had been reading at her, his face a mask of concern. “Do you think you could do some research on this thing and try to figure out what we’re dealing with this time? It broke into several grocery stores last night. Reports say all that was missing was…candy?”
Willow felt her heart sink. As she looked at the newspaper article. There, in complete detail, was the creature that Mina had drawn on the Tablet of D’Marte. “Um…” She pointed to the Tablet, lying on the desk.
“Oh…no….fu-“
“Already said that.” Willow muttered, cutting him off.
“Mina did this?” Angel asked. “Never mind, don’t answer.” He sighed, stepping close enough to wrap his arms around his witch. He pulled her close to him, kissing her forehead.
Sinking into her mate’s embrace, Willow felt a tear slide out of her eye. This was a bad thing. How could they destroy a creature when Willow wasn’t even sure how it had been created? Research was definitely on the menu for her today. “I need to figure this out, Angel. We can’t let it run around…stealing candy, you said?” Her eyes flew from the Tablet to the newspaper and then back again. “Oh Goddess, it’s an Easter Bunny Demon.”
Angel arched an eyebrow, pulling back from her enough to look into her eyes. “Easter Bunny Demon?”
“Mina thinks the Easter Bunny is a demon…” She sighed. “I’ll tell you about it later. Or Mina can, even. The bus should be dropping her off in a few hours. I need to research – to try to figure out how we get rid of this…thing.”
The dark haired vampire pulled her against him. Leaning down, his mouth met hers in a brief kiss. It was enough to set her body on fire and, if they had time later, she would have to be sure to give both of her mates the love they deserved. The moment was over all too soon, reality intruding upon them. “Go tell Spike what’s going on… I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
~*~*~
“Purity…innocence…oh Goddess, that’s Mina – pure to a fault.” Willow grimaced, continuing to read. She had exhausted all of her sources when something had clicked inside of her, telling her to look in a book of obscure myths Angel had purchased for her birthday. There, hidden amongst tales of genies and unicorn-like creatures, had been the Legend of D’Marte. “To destroy the creation the one who created it must simply wish it farewell and erase the image?”
Willow rubbed her eyes, sure that exhaustion was causing her to see things. “All she has to do is say goodbye to the drawing and erase it? Goddess.” A tear of relief trickled down her cheek and she wiped it away, smiling. At least no further harm would come of this. “Angel! Spike! Get Mina from her room and come here!”
~*~
Mina stared at the floor, her entire manner subdued. Not only had her parents not liked the picture she had drawn for them, they seemed to be really mad. For some odd reason they had told her to say goodbye to the Easter Bunny and then erase him.
It had been hard.
‘They didn’t like my present…’ The child thought sadly. Her gaze remained on the floor as she tried to ignore the stares of the adults in the room.
“Mina. Look at me.” Angel’s voice held no room for disobedience. When the child’s teary green eyes met his, he almost crumbled.
Almost.
”Go ahead, mate.” Spike murmured. “Tell her. She needs to know what she did was wrong. I mean – what if it had been something worse than the bloody Easter Bunny?”
Angel threw a glare at his Childe, silencing him. It was easy for Spike to tell him to just *do* it. The blond wasn’t the one who was going to be lecturing her. The dark haired vampire cleared his throat. “Mina… That thing you wrote on was something very bad – very old. You shouldn’t have messed with it. You’re going to have to have me, Daddy-Spike or mommy with you from now on when you go inside my office, okay?”
Mina nodded her head, slowly. She could live with that. “I’m sorry, mommy, Daddies…” Her lower lip trembled. “I just wanted to make a picture for you… To say thank you for letting the Easter Bunny come this year.” She stopped suddenly, her Willow-esque babbling turning off completely as she thought of something awful. “He’s still going to bring me candy, isn’t he? I’m sorry I was bad… I won’t do it again. Don’t take the Easter Bunny from me!”
Willow sighed. “He’ll still come, Mina. But you need to be a good girl and not touch my things or your Daddies’ things anymore. Your toys are for you. Peaches is for you. Our stuff is for us and only us.”
The child nodded, sliding off of her chair to come hug each of her parents in turn. Things would be okay. She could be a good girl and the Easter Bunny would still bring her candy to share with Peaches. “Will the Easter Bunny bring candy for Alex and David?”
“I don’t think so, Strawberries.” Spike grinned, thinking of his sons sleeping so quietly in the nursery. “They’re too little.”
Mina smiled. “Well, they can have some of mine if they want it. Peaches and I won’t eat that much of it.” With another smile she was off to her room.
“Did she say her *and* Peaches…?” Willow asked quietly, a hand to her mouth.
“Sure did, luv.” Spike grinned. “I guess our Peaches gets to tell Mina that kitties don’t eat candy.”
“Great.” Angel groaned, standing up to go do just that. He kissed his mates on their lips. “Next time *you* get to be the bad guy, Spike.”
The blond vampire watched his Sire leave the room, and gave Willow a smile. “Hope there’s not a next time, little chit turns me to mush.”
Willow giggled and stood from her chair, she crossed to the doorway, heading for the living room and the evening news. “I always knew you were a softie, Spike.”
“Soft?” Spike growled playfully to her back. He watched her walk out, admiring the shape and curve of her body. When she disappeared from view he stood, following her out to the living room with a leer. “I’ll show you soft, witch.”
~*~End Fic~*~
Interlude by Rylie