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"
Summary: A teenage girl with mysterious ties to Angel helps him with his Christmas Amends.
Chapter Seven
Delivery Man
The laughter finally died off. But Angel would forever have the image of Spike, in game face, distastefully pronouncing the word toilet in his mind. He did not have many good memories associated with him, the peroxide blonde. Most of his memories were from his time as Angelus, and the demon equated good with the type of mayhem Spike loved to cause. The only other thing Angel could remember laughing about was when he heard about Spike’s poetry. But again, that had been perverted by Angelus taunting Spike about it. Although that was almost a good memory in itself, considering his current feelings towards Spike. But it prompted another question.
"Once Drusilla declared that you were her…" he didn’t know quite what to call her. Pet? Toy?
"Doll," Dylan supplied wryly.
"Her doll," he conceded. "How did the others react? I mean I know you said Spike threatened you, but what about the minions?"
"Well, they took their lead from Spike," she explained. "At first, they were having fun taunting me about being made a meal. But eventually, they realized that Dru was serious about keeping me around. Once we figured out the logistics of a human living in their nest, they pretty much left me alone."
"No one attacked you? Really?" Angel was surprised; knowing the caliber of idiots Spike usually surrounded himself with.
"Not seriously," Dylan shrugged. "But it did lead to another problem."
"What kind?"
"Well, Spike realized that they couldn’t just keep feeding me cake and tea," she recalled with a smile. "So they had to figure something else out."
*****
"Um, Dru," Dylan looked up from the tea she’d just been poured. Dru had that mindless look on her face again. She was slowly moving her head back and forth, similar to a weaving snake, humming tunelessly under her breath. Dylan had been there for a few days now, and she, more than anyone was surprised by how far Dru was going with her belief. If bets were placed, she would have been first in line to say that she’d be dead before morning that first night. Her stomach rumbled slightly, tilting in an imperious manner as she contemplated the cake before her. It had been all right the first night and even the second. An entire day of not eating anything had sharpened her hunger and she devoured the bit of cake given her. But fear had kept her from asking for more. The third night, the cake was starting to get a little more than stale. But now, it was unrecognizable as cake. It looked more like a science project. She wondered how large the original cake had been that Dru seemed to have an endless supply of it.
If she were to put that in her stomach, it would definitely make a return trip the wrong way. And she really didn’t want to throw up on the one Vampire that was keeping her safe for the moment. So she had to try again. "Dru?" she was louder this time, and it caught the woman’s attention.
"Yes dearie?" she smiled sweetly as she took a seat. Dylan nervously bit her lip, then gestured at the cake.
"I- I think that the cake has gone bad," she ducked her head, but there was no reprisal yet. She glanced quickly at Dru, but she seemed coherent at the moment. "It’s, uh, cake isn’t supposed to be green. U-unless it’s frosted that way, I mean." Dru stared at her for a moment, then looked to the tea party she’d arranged once more. She inspected the cake, her nose so close to it, it was almost touching. Finally, she sat back up.
"Bad cake!" she shouted, her hand smacking down on the offending piece. It splattered with a disgusting noise, coating Dru’s hand in slimy mold and crumbs. She giggled, then rose from her perch. "Come, we shall find my baby doll something she likes to eat." She bent over and removed the blasted chain from the wall and marched imperiously towards the main room. She didn’t look to see if Dylan was following. It was obvious that she would. She had no other choice.
It didn’t take long for them to find Spike. He was busily planning his next campaign against the Vampire Slayer, a name that Dylan didn't quite catch. And, in between his scheming, he was throwing out orders to the minions about finding Dru’s cure. At the sound of the chain dragging across the floor, his head came up, to look at his love. There was a gentle expression of concern for her, but when he caught sight of Dylan, it hardened visibly.
"Dru, luv?" he murmured sweetly to her. "What are you doin’ up and about? You should be resting, taking nourishment." The last was said with a wicked leer at the teen.
"Baby needs feeding," Dru stated simply, holding up the chain. Spike rolled his eyes. But he’d learned that arguing with Dru on this point was futile. He simply turned to one of the minions and jerked his head.
"Go find the chit some food," he ordered. The minion hesitated a moment.
"Well?" Spike demanded, arching his brow menacingly.
"Th-there’s cake," he stammered out. But Dru held up her hand.
"Bad cake," she reiterated. Spike’s nose scrunched up as the moldy stench hit his nose.
"What the bloody hell is all over your hand pet?" he demanded. He held his hand out expectantly and a handkerchief was quickly placed in it. He reached for Dru’s hand and lovingly cleaned it off. "Is it the cake?" She nodded. "It went bad?" She nodded again. Well, they certainly couldn’t feed that to the child. He mentally snorted, very tired of the whole deal. Once he was sure he’d removed the filth from her hand, he threw the used cloth back to the minion and turned his head to address them. "Go find something aside from the blasted cake then."
Dru smiled engagingly at her lover, then turned to pull Dylan forward. "What does my baby want to eat?" Spike really did snort this time. Dylan shrugged, nervous under the direct attention.
"I guess some Chinese would be good," she ventured timidly. Dru’s eyes lit up.
"Yes Spike," she agreed quickly. "Chinese sounds deliciously yummy." Spike would have ranted about being forced to cater to the human, but the way his princess’ eyes lit up dazzled him. He could see the sudden hunger.
"Do it!" he ordered and the minions ran.
*****
"I can’t believe Spike actually was stupid enough to do that," Angel smirked. It was one of the ways Vampires had to be careful. Ordering take-out was an old ploy to them, but eventually word would get around and no more deliveries would be made. It also revealed the nest, as more companies were actually keeping records of where the orders went. It brought attention that Vampires did not need. Plus, it took away the natural thrill of the hunt. It was fun to occasionally have a meal drop into one’s lap, but part of the Vampire’s nature was based in the chase. It got the victim’s heart racing increased the flow of blood and the scent of fear was intoxicating.
Angel tried to shake himself out of his mental dissertation on Vampiric nature. It was just another painful reminder of how different he was becoming. The desire was still there, but tamped down by a massive case of guilt. It was better to try not to over think it. Just accept that was the way it was and move on. Don’t let it become a temptation.
"I don’t think he thought it would become habit," Dylan replied shakily. "And I did point it out to him later." Angel was watching her with interest. He could clearly see how upset she was over this memory.
"What happened?"
She took a deep breath before answering. "Dru didn’t think it was polite to make me eat by myself." She bit her lip, unable to continue for a moment. Then she whispered, "so she had a snack with me."
*****
"Food’s here," Spike announced grandly as he swung the bedroom door open. He stepped through to allow the person behind him entry. The little man slipped in, holding three bags. The odor emanating from them assaulted Dylan’s nose at once and her stomach rumbled in response.
"Baby’s hungry," Dru smiled. The little man, not Chinese as it turned out after all, came further into the room, but stopped in shock as he took in the chain attached to his customer’s leg. Her gaze met his miserably. She knew what was coming. She dropped her glance, unable to watch.
"W-what’s going on here?" the man demanded as Dru took the bags from him. She set them on the table before Dylan, then turned back to face him. No one noticed as Dylan seemed to shrink into herself, drawing her shoulder’s up, as if to block out the coming sounds.
"Nothing to concern you mate," Spike drawled, amused. "You just did your job. Delivered our food." He looked to Dru over the man’s shoulder. "Why don’t you pay the man sweetheart, so we can all get back to our business."
"Yes," Dru's smile was feral. "Come here, so I can give you what you came for." She gestured sweetly to him, her eyes entrancing. With a squeaky gasp, the man drew forth slowly, until he was in reach. Dru, hungry now, grabbed his arm in a crushing grip, her hunger giving her power. She spun him around and without pause, sank her fangs into his jugular. He shuddered within her embrace as his blood poured from the wound. Within minutes, he was drained, his lifeless body collapsing to the floor with a resounding thud. Spike smiled widely and stepped around the body to crouch before Dylan. He grasped her chin and forced her to look at him.
She shrank back again when she took in his demonic visage. "And now you see your fate," he taunted cruelly. He let her chin loose and moved to heft the body out of the room. He’d have one of the numerous minion dispose of it. As he left, Dylan heard him murmuring, "well, one good thing about the chit, she got Dru to eat."
"Ooh, noodles!" Dru exclaimed as she examined the contents of one of the bags.
*****
"That callous bastard," Angel seethed. Dylan was extremely pale now. He had the suspicion that she had never been able to talk about her ordeal until now. And he hated that he had unwittingly brought out these memories. "He was actually grateful to you?"
"You seem to forget," Dylan spoke slowly. "Whatever Dru wanted, Dru got. That’s all he was about."
"But that didn’t keep him from terrorizing you, did it?" he demanded knowingly. It didn’t help when he thought back to his, Angelus’ treatment of her."
"I spent a lot of time with them," Dylan argued. "I learned a lot. And I know that they had an atypical relationship, something a lot of people and Vampires didn’t understand. Yes, he threatened me, but I eventually realized that as long as I kept on Dru’s good side, he wouldn’t do a damn physical thing to me." She took a deep breath. "The one thing that I took from that time was strength. I learned how to protect myself from fears. How to get over them. I guess it’s like that theory, the best way to learn is to do. If I wanted to learn how to survive constant threat, terror and insanity, where better than that nest of vipers."
"I think you mean those unstable, notoriously unreliable nest of vipers," Angel offered.
"Do you include yourself in that?" she challenged. Angel’s eyes widened as the sadness took hold again.
"Yeah, I think I do."
"You know," Dylan sighed, "you don’t have a patent on guilt."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that there are a lot of things I wish I had done differently. Thinking about it now, I never would have suggested getting take-out. That man died because I was so hungry I wasn’t thinking clearly."
Angel’s features softened. "That wasn’t your fault. It was Dru and Spike’s choice. Dru was the one that killed him. And if she hadn’t, Spike or one of the others would have."
"But I was the catalyst that brought him to that point," Dylan argued.
"I understand that," Angel persisted. "But he may have been killed another time, another way. Life is that way. Just because you were there, it doesn’t make you all powerful."
"So why don’t you tell yourself that?" And for once, he couldn’t answer.
Chapter Eight
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