Title: Baby Doll
Author Restive Nature
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series. They belong to the almighty Joss and I just play with them for my own amusement before putting them away neatly.
Spoilers: Buffy Season Three "Amends"
Chapter Five
Miss Edith Needs Her Tea
"So Spike car-jacked you?" Angel smirked. He had no trouble picturing the idiot trying that tact. Then he recalled what Dylan had said about Spike poking her in the back with something. "Did he really have a gun?" She stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"No!" she giggled. She held up her hand in the classic gun pose and waved it at him. "It was his stupid finger." Angel goggled at her then began to laugh as well. It was so typically Spike. "But I didn’t know that for sure," she defended herself. "And I mean, he had other weapons at his disposal." Angel quit laughing abruptly at that. As childlike as his childer could be, they were at their basis, vicious killers.
"Yeah, he did," Angel nodded. "So he brought you back there for Dru to… to feed on you?"
"Yep," she nodded slowly. She took another sip of tea, then set the mug on the coffee table before her. "One of his minions said that she’d just woken up again, so he dragged me off to her room."
*****
"Hello pet," Spike cooed as he entered his dark Princess’ sanctuary. She presented a wonderful picture, stretched out languidly on the large bed, her dark locks tumbled about her pale face.
"My Spike," she whispered as she slowly drew one arm up to him. Letting go of Dylan, he hurried forward to press a gentle kiss against her wrist. Her other arm was occupied in cradling her precious doll. Spike carefully seated himself on the bed, so he wouldn’t jar her. "You found what you were looking for," she told him breathily.
"I did," he confirmed, a glint in his crystalline blue eyes. He turned back to look at the slightly cowering teen still standing in the door. She was definitely unsure of herself, as well she should be. "A little gift for my black Goddess."
"A present?" Dru grew excited. She peeked around Spike and took in the girl, dressed in her party clothes, holding her knapsack before her like a shield. She tried to sit up and Spike obligingly moved his hand under her shoulders. Dru, finally up, had regained a little strength from her slumber. She climbed from the bed, the doll still in her arms. "I like presents." Spike watched from the bed as his lover flowed towards the trembling girl. No matter the time, no matter the place, he loved watching Dru hunt. But it was to his surprise when Dru reached out a pale hand and took the bag from the girl. She returned to the bed, her eyes glittering in excitement. She set the doll at the head of the bed, where she’d been resting moments before, then yanked open the top of the knapsack.
Her eyes flew between the bag, Spike, then the girl, a wide smile on her face.
"Oh Spike," she crooned. "You brought me a dress-up doll!" She pulled one of Dylan’s t-shirts from the bag. "This will be so much fun." Spike rolled his eyes and tried to remove the bag from his grasp, but relented at her soft growl.
"Actually luv," Spike sighed, "I brought you dinner. But if you’d like a dress-up doll, I can get you one of those." It was getting increasingly harder to entice her to feed these days.
"No," she pouted immediately, her eyes on the girl. "I like this one." Spike was about to speak again, but the girl interrupted.
"Um, can I cast my vote for the doll route?" she asked, fear tingeing her voice to barely controlled hysteria. Spike was actually amused that the chit was able to speak up for herself. In a way, he respected it.
"Food doesn’t get a vote," he told her decisively.
"Well, having never been eaten, I’d say that puts me in a different category," she argued softly. Spike rolled his eyes. The minions of this town may have accepted him as the reigning Master Vampire, but obviously the sheep-like humans needed a few lessons.
"No Spike," Dru read his intentions. "I want to play." Spike drew back to regard her once more.
"All right pet," he finally agreed. "You can play now, but then you must have something to eat. Need to keep your strength up." She nodded quickly. He let one finger idly slip down her cheek, enjoying the pale silken skin. He then turned to the girl, still in the doorway. "Now, just so you don’t get any ideas…" He trailed off, and moving swifter than she realized he could, he’d grabbed her arm and yanked her to the foot of the bed. Before she could react, he’d snapped a manacle around her ankle. "Just so you don’t try the absurd notion of running away," he explained matter of factly. He turned back to Dru. "Have fun darling." Dru smiled widely and then he was gone, shutting the door behind him.
*****
"Whoa," Angel was trying not to interrupt, but it was absurd not to at this point. "Dru actually thought you were a doll?"
"I don’t know if she really believed that," Dylan bit her lip. "See, from what I gathered, she’d just been dreaming that one of her dolls was. And I guess when she saw my bag of clothes and that’s the first thing her mind came up with."
"Be glad it was that and not something worse." She just shuddered delicately and leaned forward to pick up her mug, seeming to need the artificial heat it provided.
*****
Dru continued to pull items out of the bag as Dylan futilely attempted to get comfortable on the worn floor she’d been deposited on. Dru gleefully stopped when her eyes rested on something more than clothes. With awe, she pulled out Dylan’s diary that she faithfully wrote in every night. Well, it was her latest one. She’d filled many over the years. Dru ran her hands over the cover of it, almost giddy.
"It sings to me," she chanted, her eyes fluttering.
"The book?"
Dru’s eyes snapped over to her, then back to the book. She opened the front cover and read the name inscribed there. She read it again, one finger caressing the black ink imprinted there. "I know who you are now. Dylan Mackenzie."
"Yeah, that’s me," Dylan agreed, her mouth suddenly dry.
"You keep your secrets here," Dru nodded, shutting the book cover. "I don’t have one to keep my secrets."
"Well Sp- uh, your friend could probably get you one," Dylan shrugged, wondering when the Vampiress would get around to doing the deed.
"I don’t need one," Dru giggled. "I have Miss Edith." Her hands reached fondly for the doll. Dylan just watched in morbid fascination as Dru brought her forth and scooted to the end of the bed with her doll in hand.
"She’s very nice?" it was more of a question. Dylan had no idea what would set her off. But she was curious about something. "Um, why does she have a gag around her mouth?"
"Oh Miss Edith was a naughty girl this morning," Dru giggled, fondly stroking the doll’s hair. "And she’ll have no cakes at our tea party today."
"That’s too bad," Dylan shivered. The room was a lot colder than she was used to. Amazingly Dru seemed to notice. She patted the bed and gestured for Dylan to join her. Dylan weighed the idea of joining her or remaining on the floor. Since she was chained down, Dru wouldn’t have to exert much energy to reach her, so it mattered little where Dylan was. It made more sense to at least be a little warmer while she could. So with a bit of awkwardness, she clambered to her feet and shuffled over to the bed.
"Do you like cake?" Dru asked suddenly. Dylan nodded dumbly. She certainly wasn’t going to disagree with the Vampiress. "Then we shall have cake. And tea. All good girls drink their tea. Drink it all up. Tea with lemon."
"Tea with orange is good too," Dylan burst out. She almost wanted to clap a hand over her mouth, but Dru reacted well.
"Orange is sweet," she nodded. "I like sweet tea. So we shall have tea now." She rose from the bed and very deliberately, put her doll into Dylan’s arms. She puttered about the room, dragging a small table to the end of the bed. She gathered more dolls from the shelving above her. After that, she left the room. Dylan sat by herself, unbelieving of the events that led up to this moment. She knew she should be screaming her fool head off. But a calmly rational part of herself was telling her that it wasn’t any use. She was well and truly trapped. Spike had driven her far enough to be out of Sunnydale. The building they were in was certainly deserted but for the Vampires that had now claimed it. The only though that kept repeating itself seemed to be, ‘how long would it take’? How long until Dru tired of her little game? How long would Spike put up with it? How long until she was thrown to one of the minions?
After a good while, Dru finally returned, followed by a minion. There was a dumbfounded look on the monster’s face when he realized that his mistress really intended to serve tea to her food, as if she were an afternoon guest over for a good gossip session. He let the tea tray drop a little, but it landed on the table without upsetting anything. Dru made a shooing motion with her hand and the minions left, no doubt to inform the others about their mistress’ odd behavior.
Dru took a seat beside Dylan and began to pour several cups of tea. She set one by Dylan, then passed the others around, ostensibly to her other ‘guests’. She then began divvying up the cake that had been brought. A small slice for the dolls, one large one for Dylan. She brushed her hands free of crumbs, then smiled widely at Dylan. "Miss Edith has her own seat," she whispered conspiratorially. Dylan handed the doll over gladly.
"Miss Edith is very beautiful," Dylan said, just to break her own frightened silence. Dru smiled at the compliment.
"Yes she is, but I like all my pretty dolls."
"But Miss Edith is special, isn’t she?" Dylan probed gently. Dru leaned towards her and put one hand by her mouth, sharing a secret.
"Miss Edith sees things," she giggled. Dylan nodded. She then tilted her head.
"She tells you about those things?"
"Yes, Miss Edith loves to whisper in my ear," Dru agreed. "Such lovely things. Blood and death." Dylan tried hard and just barely managed to repress a shudder. "You know lovely things too." She announced. Dylan’s head shot up in shock at her words. How did Dru know that? "You dream. And your dreams tell you."
"They do," Dylan sighed. She’d told nobody about the dreams she had. Nor did she tell them about her feeble prophetic tendencies. Of course, that was always limited to knowing when it was one of her friends on the phone. Or the sense of déjà vu that accompanied certain days. That could be written off to simple coincidence. But the dreams were an entirely different matter. It was strangely gratifying that she could now share this with someone and it turned out to be a crazed, ill Vampiress. "They’ve been telling me for a long time now."
"Since you were a girl?" Dru confirmed. "I was a girl too. My daddy said I was a bad girl."
"Dreaming isn’t bad," Dylan shrugged. Dru’s eyes were sad in an instant and Dylan tensed up, but the moment passed. For lack of anything better to do, she picked up the delicate teacup and took a sip. It was a lemon flavored green tea. And she found that it was fairly good.
"My daddy went away," Dru pouted now. "I tried so hard to be good for him. But he left us." Dylan had an idea that she knew what Dru was referring to. She carefully reached over and patted Dru’s knee. She seemed to be getting bolder as the minutes passed.
"I’m sorry Dru," it was offered sincerely. From everything she knew, Vampires felt things just as much, maybe more than humans did. "But, you have Spike now. He takes good care of you, doesn’t he?"
"Oh yes," Dru lit up again. "My Spike takes good care of me. He gives me everything I want. He brought me you."
"A-and what do you want me for?" Dylan forced herself to ask. Dru grinned.
*****
"So Dru really wanted a friend I guess," Angel mused. It wasn’t common, in fact was pretty rare that Vampires befriended anyone. They set up communities for mutual benefit. Or they mated for protection and sex. Love wasn’t big in their vocabulary.
"I guess," Dylan agreed. He’d managed to sum up things quickly. Unlike herself, who’d taken much longer to figure it out. "She wanted another woman to talk to. I think she could tell Spike everything. But she missed the dynamics of the family she had with you and Darla. Plus, it can get pretty aggravating, even for her, to always be the one being babied. I think she wanted to take a turn at caring for someone else, the way Spike was doing for her."
"Um, I think you’re giving Dru way too much credit," Angel mused.
"Maybe," Dylan shrugged. "But she never did kill me, did she?"
Chapter Six
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