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"
Summary: A teenage girl with mysterious ties to Angel helps him with his Christmas Amends.
Chapter Nineteen Demon Forth
"It went downhill?" Angel puzzled. "How do you mean?"
"Well, after I showed you guys the pictures, I cleaned up the party stuff," she explained haltingly. "And by then, it was almost dawn, so I was pretty tired." He nodded. "I went to bed and…"
"Bad dreams?" he surmised.
"Well, yes, you could say that."
*****
Dylan snuggled down into the bed. After washing the sheets, she was finally able to get to sleep without spending half the day sneezing from the dust motes. She dropped off quickly, still enjoying the expressions on Angelus and Spike’s faces when they had seen the dolls she and Dru had dressed up for a quaint tea party. She knew they were expecting something completely different. It amused her that her friends would think her worldly that she could contemplate certain acts without even blushing now. Of course, the thought of her friends brought her down a little, but Dylan consoled herself. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d ever been taken from one set of friends and plopped into a new situation. She’d done fairly well in each instance and had somehow managed to land on her feet, so to speak, again.
The dream started the same way that her earlier vision had. She was surrounded by darkness. So completely black that she couldn’t even see stars behind closed eyes if she bit her tongue. And time stretched. She was waiting it seemed for centuries untold. But whispers came to her. They made no sense, but she heard them all the same. And finally movement. She was moving. She was perfectly stiff, but being carried it seemed. And then the waiting began again. And finally, the darkness fell away. The light hurt, not having seen it for so long. But there, before her, a figure walked away from her. It turned abruptly and she tried to suck in her breath, but none was available. Angelus. He approached again, stopping just inches from her. His hand hovered near and her mind cried out for him. She needed him. But he pulled his hand away and she felt the sharp pull of the sword she knew was still in her chest.
Time passed again. He came near many times, looking her over. And every time he came near, she screamed for him. But he couldn’t hear how she needed him. But finally, the time came when she knew he was ready. Her heart sang as he performed the ritual. But then it sank as she saw him dip his hands in the blood of the one before him. ‘Fool,’ her mind cried. ‘Did he not know? Was she forever doomed to be without him?’ The sharp pain again in her chest when his hand finally connected to the sword. Pain so deep at the wrong connection. It was all wrong. Darkness again. But in the darkness, the craving came. Soon, she would have it. She would the one of the angelic face and rivers of his blood.
Dylan woke with a start. Her mind raced. This dream was so much more complete than her vision had been. Nothing really made sense, but she knew now that the time of fulfillment of the prediction was nearing. It would happen soon and if the past was anything to go by, there was no way she could stop it. She shivered as she unconsciously remembered the yearning she’d felt to have Angelus complete her. It wasn’t a physical craving in the sexual sense, she knew that much. It was as if there was something Angelus had that could complete her. Only him and no other. She feared to go back to sleep. She felt defiled and knew tat she’d find no true rest.
So she busied herself about her room for the rest of the afternoon. She was still chained to the wall and she supposed that all the other Vampires were resting. So she reorganized her room and tried to forget the feelings that had accompanied her nightmare.
When Dru finally arrived to let her loose, she was about ready to climb the walls. But the set of Dru’s features warned her that she wouldn’t get her wish. The Vampiress appeared to have a heavy heart regarding some matter that Dylan wasn’t aware of.
"It’s time, Baby Doll," she whispered, almost regretfully.
"Time for what?" Dylan choked out, even more afraid than she’d been before.
"Time for the world to end," Dru replied softly.
"You found it?" Dylan accused her voice harsh. Dru didn’t look at all surprised. She knew and remembered Dylan’s third vision. And she knew now what it referred to.
"We’re going to get it tonight," she grinned suddenly, her mood lightening up. "And when I return, Mummy’s going to make sure her little girl grows up."
"What Dru?" Dylan was confused by her sudden change. What was she referring to? And then, with a sharp gasp, Dylan realized. Dru was going to turn her. It had been threatened so many times before, but now, Dru made it seem to be a promise. Something was going on here that was major. And Dylan knew it centered on the thing of her dream. "It won’t work Dru," she protested immediately. Dru misunderstood her though.
"Oh yes it will," she grinned. "I’ll make my baby into one of us and we’ll dance together in hell."
"No Dru," she cried out, watching in dismay as Dru swayed around the room, once again lost in a melody that only she could hear. "Dru, listen to me!" The swaying stopped. "Dru, this thing, it won’t work. He won’t be able to do it. Whatever he’s planning, it will fail."
Dru stalked forward, her face already transformed into its natural demon form. "What did you say?" she hissed. Dylan cringed, shrinking back away from her. "Are you sure?" she demanded. Dylan wasn’t sure what was scarier, her demon or her sudden lucidity. She nodded slowly, reluctantly. "My baby saw this?" Another nod. Dru pulled herself sharply upright. "No, my baby is wrong. My Angel will succeed. You’ll see." And with that she strode angrily from the room. Dylan breathed a sigh of relief. But now, she was even more stuck than she’d been before.
*****
"So you warned Dru, but she really didn’t believe you?" Angel clarified.
"Yeah, she had a lot of faith in you," Dylan commented wryly, wrinkling her nose. Angel didn’t react, just sat pondering what she’d told him.
"You knew, didn’t you?" he began. "You knew what I needed to complete the ritual."
"I didn’t know in the sense that I read it in a book," she explained. "All I knew was that that thing, that…?"
"Acathla."
"Yeah, it was calling for your blood. There was a sense of completeness when it contemplated your blood."
"I had no idea that Acathla was sentient in it’s stone encasement," Angel mused.
"I don’t know that it was," Dylan frowned. "Maybe that’s just the way I related to it in my dream. You know, gave it actions and emotions that I could understand."
"Maybe." He was silent a second, then, "I’m surprised Dru didn’t turn you the second I failed that first time. She was really upset."
"Well, she lost it a little on me," Dylan admitted.
"Oh really, what did she do?"
*****
Dru stormed into her room. She’d been stuck there since waking up the previous afternoon. She’d heard all the commotion in the main outer room and knew that they had brought the stone demon home. She knew that they would try the ritual as soon as they had everything ready. She jut didn’t know if Dru would come for her before the ritual or leave her to burn or whatever was supposed to happen to the humans when the demon was released. It was something of a relief that Dru did come. Until Dylan realized that her mood had not improved since she’d last seen the Vampiress.
"I’m so disappointed," Dru crooned as she slumped down on the teen’s bed. "Daddy failed," she wept.
"I’m sorry Dru," Dylan sighed, even though she partly wasn’t. She just hoped that he wouldn’t figure out what he needed to complete this ritual. Dru’s head shot up.
"My baby knew," she whispered, more to herself than Dylan. "My baby was right all along." She whirled to look at the girl, still curled up on her bed. "Did you see?" she demanded harshly. "Is Daddy going to do it?" Dylan knew what Dru was asking.
"I don’t know Dru," she shrugged helplessly. "I didn’t see that far. I just knew that when he first tried, he wouldn’t succeed." Dru smiled a canny grin that chilled Dylan’s heart.
"If at first you don’t succeed," Dru chanted in a sing-song voice, "then try, try again." With sinewy grace, she bent over and opened the trunk at the foot of Dylan’s bed. She removed one of the black strips that they’d used for their tea parties. She let the lid of the trunk fall shut and wove her way to the girl. "My little doll will just have to try again," she crooned. She knelt on the bed and tied the blindfold around the stunned girl’s head, easily covering her eyes. "Now, see!" she commanded, as if Dylan could perform on demand. And with that, she swept from the room.
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