Ficcy: Searching For What's Lost, Spike/Dru/Darla, rated R
Title: Searching For What's Lost
Author: Laure
Fandom: BtVS
Pairing: Spike/Drusilla/Darla
Spoilers: It's 1906, only if you don't know the history of the vampires will you be spoiled
Summary: Adrift without Angelus Darla goes to find someone else lost to her and drags Spike and Drusilla along
Rating: R
Warnings: language, an itty bitty bit of sex, blood, somewhat offensive terminology
Disclaimer: Not mine
Distribution: Please ask unless you already have permission. Will eventually be up at Moon Madness
A/N: Written for the CYA ficathon Livejournal
Challenge Requirements: Darla, Drusilla, and Spike after Angel gets his soul and leaves the group and before Darla breaks off from Spike/Dru. Don't worry about being historically accurate (the show never did, after all); I'm mostly interested in seeing how these three characters interact together in this situation and how they function as a unit. Pr0n is always welcome, as I'm a big fan of all three sides of this triangle. And if you could set this in the context of having to solve a mystery or something like that'd be awesome, but consider that optional.
A/N 2: I played fast and furious with the timeline of the earthquake, putting it at the same time as the big one in San Francisco.
"I'm not crossing an ocean and traipsing across the Wild West to find that bat-faced git."
Hands on her hips, Darla glared furiously at the vampire lounging on a fusty sofa in a fusty flat in Paris. He smiled back at her and slugged back a glass of whisky before plunking the crystal down on a table and wrapping his arm around his companion who turned wide eyes on Darla.
"Does this mean you're in charge, grandmummy?"
"I don't want to be in charge," Darla snapped back. "I want to find my sire and you two are coming with me."
"Could have sworn I said I wasn't going," Spike retorted, then nuzzled his face into Drusilla's neck, making her squeal. "She isn't either."
Drusilla ignored her lover's command, pulling away from him and bouncing to her feet. "Can we see red Indians and hunt buffalo?"
"Sure," Darla lied. "The last sighting was in southern California."
Spike scowled. "Perfect. Twenty hours a day of sunshine. Just what a vampire needs."
"There has been a lot of seismic activity in that part of the country. I'm afraid something may have happened to him."
"Again, I don't care. Dru and I are perfectly comfortable here in Paris. She likes the music and the theatre and the cute queer boys."
"They're boring," Drusilla claimed in denial of his statement. "I want to see red Indians and buffalo and ride the range."
Rolling his eyes, Spike shook his head. "I've seen enough barbarians to last a dozen lifetimes."
"Then I'll go with Darla alone."
At that threat, Spike sat up straighter and shot both women glowers. "No way. The last time you two went off alone you massacred half of Barcelona and Angelus and I had to rescue you from being hung at dawn."
Darla's face hardened and Drusilla's began to shatter. "Don't mention him."
"...Daddy."
"Oh shit." Spike ran a hand over his face and rose to draw the now trembling Drusilla into his arms. "There, there, pet. I'll make it all better."
Clutching his braces and shirt front she wept for a full minute, then lifted completely dry eyes to his and smiled sweetly. "Can we go to California, then?"
"Shit."
Darla laughed, a hard, triumphant sound, and he shot her a dirty look.
*****
The ocean voyage was interminable. Spike spent most of it locked in his cabin doing wicked things to Drusilla, venturing out at night to feast on drunken passengers, struggling to keep Drusilla from killing them because she didn't understand why they couldn't no matter how many times he explained it to her.
An hour out of New York City, he lay back on the narrow bed, hands beneath his head, watching Drusilla run a brush through her hair as she hummed to herself.
"I've heard such lovely things about New York. Do you think Darla will let us explore?"
"I doubt it. She's got a bee in her bonnet about finding the Master." As Drusilla's lower lip began to tremble, he quickly added, "But nothing says we can't come back here, if you'd like, pet."
"I would. It's so young."
"You haven't even seen it yet," he said with an indulgent smile.
She smiled back. "I can tell." Setting down the brush she rose to her feet and reached for her corset. As she slipped it on, he hopped from the bed to pull the laces tight. "Soon there will be no more need for laces. Here in America, everything will change."
"You seeing things, luv?"
"Pretty things," she said, nodding. "Wondrous things." She turned in his arms and placed a sweet kiss on the corner of his mouth. "And my Angel."
Spike pulled back scowling at her tinkling laughter. "Prat's gone."
"Not forever." Her eyes drifted past him, seeing things he never would. "We'll see him again in the land of darkness and sunshine."
"That makes no sense."
Eyes snapping back to him, she patted his cheek, "Silly boy, it never does," then danced out of his arms to find a dress.
*****
The boring trip across the Atlantic was actually surpassed in its dullness by the boring transcontinental train ride because, by the time they reached western Texas and Drusilla had yet to see a buffalo or a red Indian, she'd retired to their private berth with a megrim. Driven out by her whimpering, out of money from bad luck in the gaming car, and slightly drunk, Spike knocked on Darla's door.
She opened it wide, revealing her tousled golden hair and barely there red silk nightgown, and smirked at him. "Well, you'll do better than my fingers." With a tug on his lapel, she pulled him into the room and up against him, her mouth eagerly seeking out his.
Spike shut down his brain with the final thought of 'don't remind her of Angelus' and attacked her mouth right back.
*****
Later he lay on his side, head propped on one hand, cigarette dangling from his lips as he watched Darla standing at the window watching the night roll by.
"Why are you so determined to find him?"
She didn't look at him, just fingered the heavy curtains before finally answering, "I need a connection. Since Angelus left, I've been drifting. I never realized..." Her voice died away to a whisper, "How much I'd come to rely on him always being there."
Spike frowned in confusion. "But...half the time you're shoving him away, hitting him over the head with something, or leaving him to face the raving mobs."
Flipping a sad smile over her shoulder, Darla said, "That was always how it was between us, but I always knew he'd be there for me." She looked back out the window. "Now..."
"I don't get you two. Love is so much simpler."
"Love is for fools," she snorted, her voice cold.
He didn't respond to that, simply shook his head at his so-called elder and stubbed out the remains of his cigarette. "Dawn's coming. Best close that, luv."
"A new day is dawning for us all."
"Now you sound like Dru."
Turning, Darla rolled her eyes. "Not likely, William. I simply meant that the world is changing faster now than ever before. A hundred years ago who would ever have imagined a train?"
"I like the changes. Never understood those of our kind who prefer to wallow in their pasts."
"I wouldn't say that around the Master."
It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"And you do that to him and he'll eat those pretty blue orbs," she said with a laugh as she strolled back to the bed to pounce on him.
*****
Spike was awakened by soft whimpers and, as he yawned and stretched and forced his eyes to open, the sounds grew louder.
Interesting.
Lifting his head from the pillow he saw Drusilla sprawled next to him, her chemise rucked up over her stomach, her legs spread, and Darla kneeling between them, bent down as her tongue teased his dark princess with light licks over swollen flesh.
Intrigued, he felt his own desire stir and moved to press a kiss to Drusilla's shoulder.
"Spike, you're awake. I decided to forgive you for failing to find a red Indian for me to eat," she crooned, stretching her arms over her head and squirming. "Grandmummy is oh so good at this." A slap across her thigh made her cry out in pain and pleasure.
"Don't call me that."
"Yes, grandmummy."
The next slap fell hard between her legs and Drusilla screamed her pleasure into Spike's mouth.
*****
On arriving in Los Angeles Darla immediately dragged Spike to a nest of Aurelians, all younger than him, all uncaring about the two foreigners. Darla made short work of their leader, then sat back and watched Spike rough up the seconds. After killing two, he pinned the third to the floor of the abandoned warehouse with a foot to the throat, then shook his demonic face clear and licked the blood from his lips.
"Think he might answer your questions now, my lady."
Rising from the throne--a gilded chair stolen from who knows where--Darla shoved past cowering vampires and glowered down at the defeated one. "Now...who am I again?"
"Darla," the vampire croaked, prying at Spike's foot and kicking his own. "Second in Aurelius. We didn't know it was you, lady, honest."
"How many Darlas are there in this clan, you idiot?" she roared and kicked him in the ribs.
As he groaned and gasped, she nodded to Spike, who lifted his foot, then dragged the vampire to his knees by his hair.
"I suggest you answer the lady's questions this time, mate," he said with just the right amount of menace.
"These vampires are a disgrace to our clan," Darla snarled in disgust. "I should burn the lot of them." Ignoring the cries, pleas and even more cowering, she leaned down and hissed, "Now, where is Master Nest?"
"Dunno, really, I swear! He passed through two months ago, set Rafe up as leader here."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Didn't know Rafe had such a liking for opium and the Chinese whores to go with it."
She snorted and straightened up, reaching up to pat her curls into place. "Where did Master Nest go?"
"I don't know. I said that. He just left. Please, you got to believe me."
"No I don't." Looking up at Spike, she gave him a dark smile. "Take his head, William."
Spike scowled. "That always makes a mess."
"I'll lick any blood off you."
The scowl turned to a smile and he yanked up on the dirty mane of hair, delighting in the screams that turned to gurgles as blood spattered, and then to silence as dust rained down.
*****
Drusilla was waiting for them outside, swaying to the music in her head. There were two unconscious vampires on the ground and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Wrapping her in his arms, Spike licked at the blood, then kissed her.
"Um, you taste good," she purred, then broke the kiss to lean over and press one to Darla's mouth, as well. "You taste like...anger."
"Frustration, more likely," Darla snarled. "It's been two months and they don't know where he went."
The threesome started walking back towards their hotel, Spike with one arm around Drusilla, Darla alone, every muscle taut with emotion.
"You'd think there'd be a trail of bodies. He never goes anywhere without a bunch of ritual killings."
Darla glared at Spike for his slightly mocking tone, then sighed in acknowledgment. "You're right, but there have been no reports of anything like that."
"Well, California's a big place."
"The cities are the only places that make sense, though. Places where the human population is large enough that killings are less noticeable." She glanced over at Drusilla who was humming now and taking every third step as a skip. "Do you sense anything?"
Looking over at her grandsire, the touched vampiress gave her a brilliant smile. "No."
"Stop being useless." With a snarl, Darla stormed off to hunt.
"...Bitch."
Drusilla giggled until Spike spun her back into his arms for another hungry kiss.
*****
Darla was gone for three days and when she returned to the hotel suite she locked herself in the bathroom. Hot and cold running water was definitely a boon of the modern world and, as the bath filled, she stripped off her torn and dirty dress and underthings, kicked her kid boots aside, and pulled out her hairpins.
Outside, surprised by her disheveled appearance, Spike and Drusilla stared at the closed door for several long minutes, until Drusilla hopped off his lap and nibbled on her lower lip.
"She's found him."
"Oh...good?"
The shaking of Drusilla's head and the worry in her eyes didn't bode well, and Spike sighed heartily and rose to go hunt up a stud for grandmummy to play with and eat.
When he returned an hour later, arm looped around the neck of a slightly inebriated young man, Darla strode out of the bathroom naked and glistening with moisture, hooked her hand through their guest's arm and dragged him to her bedroom.
"It's not going to help," Drusilla moaned plaintively.
Spike glanced over to where she sat at the window, staring into the night. "Why do you say that, ducks?"
"Deep, so deep, trapped and lost. She won't find him, not really, and no number of pretty things will appease her hunger until she does."
"This is ridiculous! In the twenty five years I've known her, she's seen the git a total of three times."
"She's lost. There's always been a man in her life." She turned calculating eyes on him. "She thought briefly to make that man you."
Spike's eyes widened in horror. Bedding her was one thing, but they were too alike in temperament to ever get along for more than a few weeks at a time. "No thanks."
"You're mine, anyway, and you don't want to be her consort. She's much too much work."
"And you're not?"he asked, without any heat.
Drusilla smiled and rose to drift over to him. "You have your hands full with me, don't you, my pretty Spike."
"And I don't mind a bit," he replied with an honest smile.
"Take me hunting?" She rose on her toes and nipped at his lower lip with a soft growl.
"Your wish is my command."
"For ever and ever."
*****
The next night Darla emerged from her bedroom dressed for travel and carrying a small valise. "Get the rest of my bags."
Spike grunted in her direction, but did as she ordered--fighting her over little things was never worth his while. Entering the bedroom, he wrinkled his nose at the sight of blood-spattered everything and the dismembered corpse cooling on the rumpled bed. "Bit of overkill, luv?"
"He annoyed me. Drusilla, stop pulling out the feathers of your hat and put it on. We're leaving."
Toting Darla's bags as well as his and Drusilla's, Spike returned to the sitting room and asked, "Where are we going?"
"A little town to the north called Sunnydale."
"Of course. Perfect vacation spot for all vampires."
Darla's eyes narrowed at his sarcasm. "You're more right than you know. Rumor has it that there's an entrance to Hell there."
"I'm putting my foot down over going to Hell."
"You'll go anywhere I damn well tell you."
As Darla marched out the door Spike thought briefly about lobbing her heaviest case at her head, then trudged after her, Drusilla following them both, still fiddling with her hat.
*****
"Looks like a tornado hit."
"It was an earthquake." Darla shot him a look as she hiked up her skirts to make her way across a rubble-strewn street and added a muttered, "idiot".
Half the town was in ruins and there was a gaping hole in the center of Main Street. The town reeked of dust, blood, death and sorrow.
And something much more insidious.
Drusilla bounced and clapped her hands in glee. "Oh, can you feel it? It's so wonderful!"
"Yeah, lots of death, pet."
"Not the deaths, the darkness." Skipping to the edge of the hole, she peered down. "Desecrated holy ground. They will fill it in, cover it up, try to hide their shame, but it will always be there." She stumbled over the final words and turned troubled eyes on her lover. "No...not always...because of you..."
He frowned as she started to sway, her eyes to drift, then dashed forward and caught her before she toppled into the pit. "Shit, Dru! Be careful."
"It's our home."
"It's a hole in the ground." Glancing over at Darla he saw her approach the edge and peer down as well. "I can't catch you, too."
Darla snorted in response to that, then crouched down, her eyes intent. "He's there."
"What? The Master? What the hell is he doing down there?"
"The earthquake."
"Oh. Yeah. Bad luck for him. Look, I'm going to take Drusilla hunting..."
Brushing off her hands, the blonde vampiress rose and glared him into silence. "We're going down there."
"Not on your ever-loving unlife."
"You can't free him," Drusilla murmured.
"He needs me." Grabbing a thick root hanging over the edge, Darla lowered herself to a ledge five feet down. "Are you coming?"
Spike was silent for a moment, then he firmly shook his head. "No, Darla, we're not. This is your quest. You dragged us along with you out of boredom, but it ends here for us. I'm not risking Dru in that hole. Even I can feel the evil coming from it."
"Revel in that evil!" she yelled angrily. "You are the poorest excuse for a vampire..."
"Yeah? I prefer to think that I'm not stupid."
Darla turned her frustration on the other female vampire. "Drusilla..."
"My place isn't there yet. I'm sorry, Darla." She blew the blonde a kiss, then danced away. "Come, my Spike. I'm ready to go back to New York City and listen to jazz and eat lovely horn players."
"Damn you both."
"Yeah, but not because of anything you'll do." Dropping to one knee, Spike looked down at Darla. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
She looked back at him from troubled eyes. "I think it's too late for that, but I have to try." With a final nod, she reached for hand and foot holds and began to make her way down the steep rocky side.
Spike watched her until she disappeared from sight, then rose and headed after Drusilla. He'd let her hunt for the night, but then they were leaving.
There was something very wrong about this town.
And something just a bit too right for his kind, which unsettled him, a feeling he didn't enjoy. New York City held out much more promise.
Maybe they'd even see a red Indian or buffalo on the train ride back east.
End
Author: Laure
Fandom: BtVS
Pairing: Spike/Drusilla/Darla
Spoilers: It's 1906, only if you don't know the history of the vampires will you be spoiled
Summary: Adrift without Angelus Darla goes to find someone else lost to her and drags Spike and Drusilla along
Rating: R
Warnings: language, an itty bitty bit of sex, blood, somewhat offensive terminology
Disclaimer: Not mine
Distribution: Please ask unless you already have permission. Will eventually be up at Moon Madness
A/N: Written for the CYA ficathon Livejournal
Challenge Requirements: Darla, Drusilla, and Spike after Angel gets his soul and leaves the group and before Darla breaks off from Spike/Dru. Don't worry about being historically accurate (the show never did, after all); I'm mostly interested in seeing how these three characters interact together in this situation and how they function as a unit. Pr0n is always welcome, as I'm a big fan of all three sides of this triangle. And if you could set this in the context of having to solve a mystery or something like that'd be awesome, but consider that optional.
A/N 2: I played fast and furious with the timeline of the earthquake, putting it at the same time as the big one in San Francisco.
"I'm not crossing an ocean and traipsing across the Wild West to find that bat-faced git."
Hands on her hips, Darla glared furiously at the vampire lounging on a fusty sofa in a fusty flat in Paris. He smiled back at her and slugged back a glass of whisky before plunking the crystal down on a table and wrapping his arm around his companion who turned wide eyes on Darla.
"Does this mean you're in charge, grandmummy?"
"I don't want to be in charge," Darla snapped back. "I want to find my sire and you two are coming with me."
"Could have sworn I said I wasn't going," Spike retorted, then nuzzled his face into Drusilla's neck, making her squeal. "She isn't either."
Drusilla ignored her lover's command, pulling away from him and bouncing to her feet. "Can we see red Indians and hunt buffalo?"
"Sure," Darla lied. "The last sighting was in southern California."
Spike scowled. "Perfect. Twenty hours a day of sunshine. Just what a vampire needs."
"There has been a lot of seismic activity in that part of the country. I'm afraid something may have happened to him."
"Again, I don't care. Dru and I are perfectly comfortable here in Paris. She likes the music and the theatre and the cute queer boys."
"They're boring," Drusilla claimed in denial of his statement. "I want to see red Indians and buffalo and ride the range."
Rolling his eyes, Spike shook his head. "I've seen enough barbarians to last a dozen lifetimes."
"Then I'll go with Darla alone."
At that threat, Spike sat up straighter and shot both women glowers. "No way. The last time you two went off alone you massacred half of Barcelona and Angelus and I had to rescue you from being hung at dawn."
Darla's face hardened and Drusilla's began to shatter. "Don't mention him."
"...Daddy."
"Oh shit." Spike ran a hand over his face and rose to draw the now trembling Drusilla into his arms. "There, there, pet. I'll make it all better."
Clutching his braces and shirt front she wept for a full minute, then lifted completely dry eyes to his and smiled sweetly. "Can we go to California, then?"
"Shit."
Darla laughed, a hard, triumphant sound, and he shot her a dirty look.
*****
The ocean voyage was interminable. Spike spent most of it locked in his cabin doing wicked things to Drusilla, venturing out at night to feast on drunken passengers, struggling to keep Drusilla from killing them because she didn't understand why they couldn't no matter how many times he explained it to her.
An hour out of New York City, he lay back on the narrow bed, hands beneath his head, watching Drusilla run a brush through her hair as she hummed to herself.
"I've heard such lovely things about New York. Do you think Darla will let us explore?"
"I doubt it. She's got a bee in her bonnet about finding the Master." As Drusilla's lower lip began to tremble, he quickly added, "But nothing says we can't come back here, if you'd like, pet."
"I would. It's so young."
"You haven't even seen it yet," he said with an indulgent smile.
She smiled back. "I can tell." Setting down the brush she rose to her feet and reached for her corset. As she slipped it on, he hopped from the bed to pull the laces tight. "Soon there will be no more need for laces. Here in America, everything will change."
"You seeing things, luv?"
"Pretty things," she said, nodding. "Wondrous things." She turned in his arms and placed a sweet kiss on the corner of his mouth. "And my Angel."
Spike pulled back scowling at her tinkling laughter. "Prat's gone."
"Not forever." Her eyes drifted past him, seeing things he never would. "We'll see him again in the land of darkness and sunshine."
"That makes no sense."
Eyes snapping back to him, she patted his cheek, "Silly boy, it never does," then danced out of his arms to find a dress.
*****
The boring trip across the Atlantic was actually surpassed in its dullness by the boring transcontinental train ride because, by the time they reached western Texas and Drusilla had yet to see a buffalo or a red Indian, she'd retired to their private berth with a megrim. Driven out by her whimpering, out of money from bad luck in the gaming car, and slightly drunk, Spike knocked on Darla's door.
She opened it wide, revealing her tousled golden hair and barely there red silk nightgown, and smirked at him. "Well, you'll do better than my fingers." With a tug on his lapel, she pulled him into the room and up against him, her mouth eagerly seeking out his.
Spike shut down his brain with the final thought of 'don't remind her of Angelus' and attacked her mouth right back.
*****
Later he lay on his side, head propped on one hand, cigarette dangling from his lips as he watched Darla standing at the window watching the night roll by.
"Why are you so determined to find him?"
She didn't look at him, just fingered the heavy curtains before finally answering, "I need a connection. Since Angelus left, I've been drifting. I never realized..." Her voice died away to a whisper, "How much I'd come to rely on him always being there."
Spike frowned in confusion. "But...half the time you're shoving him away, hitting him over the head with something, or leaving him to face the raving mobs."
Flipping a sad smile over her shoulder, Darla said, "That was always how it was between us, but I always knew he'd be there for me." She looked back out the window. "Now..."
"I don't get you two. Love is so much simpler."
"Love is for fools," she snorted, her voice cold.
He didn't respond to that, simply shook his head at his so-called elder and stubbed out the remains of his cigarette. "Dawn's coming. Best close that, luv."
"A new day is dawning for us all."
"Now you sound like Dru."
Turning, Darla rolled her eyes. "Not likely, William. I simply meant that the world is changing faster now than ever before. A hundred years ago who would ever have imagined a train?"
"I like the changes. Never understood those of our kind who prefer to wallow in their pasts."
"I wouldn't say that around the Master."
It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"And you do that to him and he'll eat those pretty blue orbs," she said with a laugh as she strolled back to the bed to pounce on him.
*****
Spike was awakened by soft whimpers and, as he yawned and stretched and forced his eyes to open, the sounds grew louder.
Interesting.
Lifting his head from the pillow he saw Drusilla sprawled next to him, her chemise rucked up over her stomach, her legs spread, and Darla kneeling between them, bent down as her tongue teased his dark princess with light licks over swollen flesh.
Intrigued, he felt his own desire stir and moved to press a kiss to Drusilla's shoulder.
"Spike, you're awake. I decided to forgive you for failing to find a red Indian for me to eat," she crooned, stretching her arms over her head and squirming. "Grandmummy is oh so good at this." A slap across her thigh made her cry out in pain and pleasure.
"Don't call me that."
"Yes, grandmummy."
The next slap fell hard between her legs and Drusilla screamed her pleasure into Spike's mouth.
*****
On arriving in Los Angeles Darla immediately dragged Spike to a nest of Aurelians, all younger than him, all uncaring about the two foreigners. Darla made short work of their leader, then sat back and watched Spike rough up the seconds. After killing two, he pinned the third to the floor of the abandoned warehouse with a foot to the throat, then shook his demonic face clear and licked the blood from his lips.
"Think he might answer your questions now, my lady."
Rising from the throne--a gilded chair stolen from who knows where--Darla shoved past cowering vampires and glowered down at the defeated one. "Now...who am I again?"
"Darla," the vampire croaked, prying at Spike's foot and kicking his own. "Second in Aurelius. We didn't know it was you, lady, honest."
"How many Darlas are there in this clan, you idiot?" she roared and kicked him in the ribs.
As he groaned and gasped, she nodded to Spike, who lifted his foot, then dragged the vampire to his knees by his hair.
"I suggest you answer the lady's questions this time, mate," he said with just the right amount of menace.
"These vampires are a disgrace to our clan," Darla snarled in disgust. "I should burn the lot of them." Ignoring the cries, pleas and even more cowering, she leaned down and hissed, "Now, where is Master Nest?"
"Dunno, really, I swear! He passed through two months ago, set Rafe up as leader here."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Didn't know Rafe had such a liking for opium and the Chinese whores to go with it."
She snorted and straightened up, reaching up to pat her curls into place. "Where did Master Nest go?"
"I don't know. I said that. He just left. Please, you got to believe me."
"No I don't." Looking up at Spike, she gave him a dark smile. "Take his head, William."
Spike scowled. "That always makes a mess."
"I'll lick any blood off you."
The scowl turned to a smile and he yanked up on the dirty mane of hair, delighting in the screams that turned to gurgles as blood spattered, and then to silence as dust rained down.
*****
Drusilla was waiting for them outside, swaying to the music in her head. There were two unconscious vampires on the ground and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Wrapping her in his arms, Spike licked at the blood, then kissed her.
"Um, you taste good," she purred, then broke the kiss to lean over and press one to Darla's mouth, as well. "You taste like...anger."
"Frustration, more likely," Darla snarled. "It's been two months and they don't know where he went."
The threesome started walking back towards their hotel, Spike with one arm around Drusilla, Darla alone, every muscle taut with emotion.
"You'd think there'd be a trail of bodies. He never goes anywhere without a bunch of ritual killings."
Darla glared at Spike for his slightly mocking tone, then sighed in acknowledgment. "You're right, but there have been no reports of anything like that."
"Well, California's a big place."
"The cities are the only places that make sense, though. Places where the human population is large enough that killings are less noticeable." She glanced over at Drusilla who was humming now and taking every third step as a skip. "Do you sense anything?"
Looking over at her grandsire, the touched vampiress gave her a brilliant smile. "No."
"Stop being useless." With a snarl, Darla stormed off to hunt.
"...Bitch."
Drusilla giggled until Spike spun her back into his arms for another hungry kiss.
*****
Darla was gone for three days and when she returned to the hotel suite she locked herself in the bathroom. Hot and cold running water was definitely a boon of the modern world and, as the bath filled, she stripped off her torn and dirty dress and underthings, kicked her kid boots aside, and pulled out her hairpins.
Outside, surprised by her disheveled appearance, Spike and Drusilla stared at the closed door for several long minutes, until Drusilla hopped off his lap and nibbled on her lower lip.
"She's found him."
"Oh...good?"
The shaking of Drusilla's head and the worry in her eyes didn't bode well, and Spike sighed heartily and rose to go hunt up a stud for grandmummy to play with and eat.
When he returned an hour later, arm looped around the neck of a slightly inebriated young man, Darla strode out of the bathroom naked and glistening with moisture, hooked her hand through their guest's arm and dragged him to her bedroom.
"It's not going to help," Drusilla moaned plaintively.
Spike glanced over to where she sat at the window, staring into the night. "Why do you say that, ducks?"
"Deep, so deep, trapped and lost. She won't find him, not really, and no number of pretty things will appease her hunger until she does."
"This is ridiculous! In the twenty five years I've known her, she's seen the git a total of three times."
"She's lost. There's always been a man in her life." She turned calculating eyes on him. "She thought briefly to make that man you."
Spike's eyes widened in horror. Bedding her was one thing, but they were too alike in temperament to ever get along for more than a few weeks at a time. "No thanks."
"You're mine, anyway, and you don't want to be her consort. She's much too much work."
"And you're not?"he asked, without any heat.
Drusilla smiled and rose to drift over to him. "You have your hands full with me, don't you, my pretty Spike."
"And I don't mind a bit," he replied with an honest smile.
"Take me hunting?" She rose on her toes and nipped at his lower lip with a soft growl.
"Your wish is my command."
"For ever and ever."
*****
The next night Darla emerged from her bedroom dressed for travel and carrying a small valise. "Get the rest of my bags."
Spike grunted in her direction, but did as she ordered--fighting her over little things was never worth his while. Entering the bedroom, he wrinkled his nose at the sight of blood-spattered everything and the dismembered corpse cooling on the rumpled bed. "Bit of overkill, luv?"
"He annoyed me. Drusilla, stop pulling out the feathers of your hat and put it on. We're leaving."
Toting Darla's bags as well as his and Drusilla's, Spike returned to the sitting room and asked, "Where are we going?"
"A little town to the north called Sunnydale."
"Of course. Perfect vacation spot for all vampires."
Darla's eyes narrowed at his sarcasm. "You're more right than you know. Rumor has it that there's an entrance to Hell there."
"I'm putting my foot down over going to Hell."
"You'll go anywhere I damn well tell you."
As Darla marched out the door Spike thought briefly about lobbing her heaviest case at her head, then trudged after her, Drusilla following them both, still fiddling with her hat.
*****
"Looks like a tornado hit."
"It was an earthquake." Darla shot him a look as she hiked up her skirts to make her way across a rubble-strewn street and added a muttered, "idiot".
Half the town was in ruins and there was a gaping hole in the center of Main Street. The town reeked of dust, blood, death and sorrow.
And something much more insidious.
Drusilla bounced and clapped her hands in glee. "Oh, can you feel it? It's so wonderful!"
"Yeah, lots of death, pet."
"Not the deaths, the darkness." Skipping to the edge of the hole, she peered down. "Desecrated holy ground. They will fill it in, cover it up, try to hide their shame, but it will always be there." She stumbled over the final words and turned troubled eyes on her lover. "No...not always...because of you..."
He frowned as she started to sway, her eyes to drift, then dashed forward and caught her before she toppled into the pit. "Shit, Dru! Be careful."
"It's our home."
"It's a hole in the ground." Glancing over at Darla he saw her approach the edge and peer down as well. "I can't catch you, too."
Darla snorted in response to that, then crouched down, her eyes intent. "He's there."
"What? The Master? What the hell is he doing down there?"
"The earthquake."
"Oh. Yeah. Bad luck for him. Look, I'm going to take Drusilla hunting..."
Brushing off her hands, the blonde vampiress rose and glared him into silence. "We're going down there."
"Not on your ever-loving unlife."
"You can't free him," Drusilla murmured.
"He needs me." Grabbing a thick root hanging over the edge, Darla lowered herself to a ledge five feet down. "Are you coming?"
Spike was silent for a moment, then he firmly shook his head. "No, Darla, we're not. This is your quest. You dragged us along with you out of boredom, but it ends here for us. I'm not risking Dru in that hole. Even I can feel the evil coming from it."
"Revel in that evil!" she yelled angrily. "You are the poorest excuse for a vampire..."
"Yeah? I prefer to think that I'm not stupid."
Darla turned her frustration on the other female vampire. "Drusilla..."
"My place isn't there yet. I'm sorry, Darla." She blew the blonde a kiss, then danced away. "Come, my Spike. I'm ready to go back to New York City and listen to jazz and eat lovely horn players."
"Damn you both."
"Yeah, but not because of anything you'll do." Dropping to one knee, Spike looked down at Darla. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
She looked back at him from troubled eyes. "I think it's too late for that, but I have to try." With a final nod, she reached for hand and foot holds and began to make her way down the steep rocky side.
Spike watched her until she disappeared from sight, then rose and headed after Drusilla. He'd let her hunt for the night, but then they were leaving.
There was something very wrong about this town.
And something just a bit too right for his kind, which unsettled him, a feeling he didn't enjoy. New York City held out much more promise.
Maybe they'd even see a red Indian or buffalo on the train ride back east.
End