Through the Eyes of a Teenager

Author: Lucinda

rating: pg, pg 13

sequel to Through the Eyes of A Child

pairing: Willow/David(from Lost Boys) (QPC 124)

the Quickie Challenge site: http://quickie.moonlightpaths.com

disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any character or storyline from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Lost Boys.

distribution: WLS, NHA, Twisting the Hellmouth, Quickie Challenge, Bite Me please?

set after Lover's Walk (season 3 BtVS) and post Lost Boys the Movie, antelope horns do not kill vampires.

Willow sighed as she hung up the phone. She'd tried to call Oz again, and again, he'd picked up the phone, heard her voice, and hung up, all without giving her a single word. Xander's phone wasn't even picking up. Nobody was talking to her, and she could understand why people were upset.

She'd been kissing Xander, who was Cordelia's boyfriend, right as Cordelia and Oz, who was... had been Willow's boyfriend, had walked into the factory to rescue them. Cordelia was in the hospital from having a metal bar puncture through her, narrowly missing all the vital organs. But... Xander had been kissing her, it wasn't all her fault! Why was everyone blaming her, as if nobody else had done anything wrong?

Buffy was busy trying to be 'just friends' with Angel, and was clearly disapproving of the illicit smoochies, or what Willow had come to think of as The Kiss. As for her other friends... well, she really didn't have any other friends. That sounded so sad, really.

What could she do? Where could she go, even if only to get a short break from this disastrous mess? The image of Spike filled her mind, and then seemed to change, not into his vampire face, but into another blue eyed blond, someone that she'd met once, long ago. David.

Maybe she could go to Santa Carla for the weekend. Go to the amusement park, eat too much cotton candy and pretzels and soda... all the things that were terrible for her. She could watch crowds of strange people possibly in strange clothing wander around, and spend the day not studying or researching the latest danger... She could just go try to have fun.

Maybe David would be there.

Maybe David would be old and married with children of his own by now. Or maybe he'd moved away, or joined a rock band and become semi famous along with his long haired friend.

She would just have to go there and find out. It was a very simple matter to pack a few things, and to borrow one of her mother's credit cards, left 'in case of emergency'. A bus trip later, she was in Santa Carla, the air feeling oddly lighter than Sunnydale. Maybe it was the lack of the Hellmouth.

She made her way to a small hotel, getting a single room for the next two days. It certainly wouldn't hurt her to miss a day of school, and she had the feeling that the long weekend away from the responsibilities would do her good. She went to bed, feeling knots of tension that she hadn't even known she'd had relaxing and unwinding.

Willow spent all of Saturday at the boardwalk and park. She had cotton candy and pretzels, and candied almonds served warm, wrapped in sugar and cinnamon. She could see some differences in the area, things that had changed over the past six years. Shops had changed, and there were a couple new rides, the pattern of games had shifted a bit, and of course, the prizes were this year's current popular cartoons and colorful animals.

She was enjoying the closing fireworks again, glad that that had been kept when she saw him. He was lurking in the shadows near the gate, his eyes looking upwards, his jeans less worn, the knees intact. But it was unquestionably David. He didn't look any older, and his friend was gone. She felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle... David didn't look older, but he should look older. Maybe it was just the effect of distance and shadows? She made her casual way closer, still trying to determine if it was an effect of the dark, or if he looked the same. Willow knew about vampires, knew that it was entirely possible that he wouldn't look older, not now, not twelve years from now, not sixty years from now.

He looked over, and she saw his gaze flicker over her, taking in the loose jeans and pale green tank top, her slightly sunburned shoulders, hovering for a few moments over her neck, easily viewed as her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. A smile curved over his lips, and his voice sounded into the quiet between fireworks "Hey there, beautiful."

Willow smiled back, something inside of her unsurprised that David was a vampire. "Hello David. How's life been for you the past six years?"

He straightened, his eyes focused on her, looking over her intently, as if trying to place her. "You're... the little redhead, the one who was thinking about a future boyfriend? I never expected you to come back..."

With a small shrug, she spoke again. "Well, things happen, times change... I needed time away from home for a bit. I remembered you, thought maybe I could come here, see what there was... See if you were still here or not. Maybe try to relax a bit. And my name is Willow."

"Sounds like a simple enough plan. Want to take a walk with me? The beach is pretty by moonlight." He smiled at her again, the smile he'd used those years ago, one with sharp looking teeth and a somehow feral air.

She found herself walking with David along the beach, admiring the way the waves crashed against the rocks, hurling the salty spray into the air with enough force that a light misting settled over them, gleaming on David like dew over marble. There was still a corner of her mind trying to scream at her that she shouldn't be here with David, that it was bad to go walking with vampires. "So what happened to your friend? The one with the long dark hair? I sort of thought the two of you looked like you belonged in a rock band..."

"He got killed. Guess there's a reason why some people call Santa Carla the murder capitol of the world..." His voice trailed of as if he didn't want to make her think about such things.

"Murder capitol of the world? Right... I don't think so. Was he a vampire too?" She found herself thinking about things, and there was no way that Santa Carla could have the same sort of fatality statistics as Sunnydale. The police here seemed to actually pay attention to their surroundings.

"What?" David stopped, looking at her with this odd expression. "Did you... why do you think I'm a vampire, Willow?"

She sighed, wondering if he really thought he looked human. "David, I'm not a sheltered twelve year old any more. Home is over the Hellmouth, I've seen a lot of vampires. You have the look... sort of feral, too pale, and when you stop, you're all stopped, too still to be alive." She reached out with one finger, brushing the salt mist from his cheek. "Human skin doesn't look like marble under mist."

"And yet you still came out walking with me." There was some confusion in his voice.

"There's a part of me trying to say that it was one of the stupider things that I've done. And another part saying that I haven't got that much to loose. Besides, you still look good, and I don't get a lot of chances to spend time with cute guys that aren't after a good grade on their next big test." Willow didn't mention that there was a small, self destructive part of her that was almost whispering that if he did kill her, wouldn't it be justice for the pain and devastation that she'd helped cause to everyone around her?

"Not surprising that you're the smart one. You seemed pretty good at figuring things out before. So, if you know that I'm a vampire, and you've met some back home, why aren't you more worried? And you're pretty enough that the guys should have noticed..." David was smiling at her again, with a sort of sparkle to his eyes, the blue almost looking flecked with gold.

Willow looked at the waves, part of her looking for the whole seventh wave idea, where every seventh wave was supposed to be a bit stronger than the others. "You wouldn't be a minion... much to in control for that. And I've learned that the Master vampires are a lot like normal people in some ways, they can care, can feel just as much as anyone else. And maybe the vampires here aren't so out of control as the ones at home."

David walked up behind her, one arm sliding forward to wrap around her stomach, cool against her skin. He rested his chin on her shoulder, and his breath tickled against her ear as he whispered his question. "How bad are the vampires at home? What makes them so out of control?"

Willow felt herself shiver, not entirely from the cool night air or sea spray. "I blame the hellmouth. And please, please, please tell me you don't go trying to destroy the world? I could never quite see the point of that."

He chuckled, the vibration passing between their bodies. "I've never done that. Never felt the need. Killed people, yes. Brought them into the family, yes. But I've never tried to end the world. I like this world, you've got good music, like Jim Morrison."

"I'm pretty sure he's dead, you know. Have I done a foolish thing by walking with you tonight?" Her voice sounded almost content, and Willow realized that this felt good, leaning back against David as she watched the waves.

"Yeah, he's dead. But as long as we remember him, he isn't gone. You should have seen him in concert, Willow. It was just... beyond words. As for did you do something foolish... I didn't bring you out here to kill you. You've definitely caught my interest, but I don't plan to just drag you off and kill you. For one thing, there's an easier way to bring someone in, less likely to give them mental problems." One of his hands was playing with a wisp of hair that had fallen from her ponytail, brushing over her neck just below and behind her ear.

"You sound like you'd want to keep me around... nobody else seems to want that. What's this other way, anyhow? Giles never mentioned anything but the whole bloodsucking dying type of thing. It's just... sometimes I feel so very alone. Makes me think that almost anything would be better." Her voice was low as she leaned against him, feeling as if her bones were turning to jelly as he played with the little wisp of hair and his fingers brushed against her neck.

"I'd keep you with me forever, Red. But there would be a few downsides... My family normally uses a different way. It takes longer, gives you time to adjust, but... people might notice. If I gave you some of my blood, you would become half. You'd be stronger, faster, sensitive to sunlight, your reflection would start to fade... and you'd start to crave blood. But the sunlight wouldn't hurt you like it does me, and you could live without the blood if you try hard enough. If you give in, if you kill someone, it makes you a full vampire." His voice was low, with a seductive purr to it.

"You make it sound tempting... Which should be bothering me a lot more that it is. What happens if I... if a half doesn't give in to the blood lust?"

"Nothing. They stay mostly human, age a bit, although not as fast. But it seems like the temptation gets stronger as time goes, or maybe they just get tired of fighting it. I think you'd make a lovely vampire."

Willow closed her eyes, letting her mind try to picture it. Herself as a vampire, with David... never alone again, never feeling so rejected and hurt. "I should at least try to fix things back in Sunnydale. But... maybe if that doesn't... or if... Will that offer stay open?"

David turned her around so that she faced him, brushing his hands over her cheeks before kissing her, his lips tasting of salt and blood. "It's going to be open for a while, Willow. Just come back, and I'll make it happen. But, you're here for the weekend? Let me show you a good time, try to sway you over..."

Willow smiled at him, feeling something like hope well up inside her. "That sounds good... but no sneaking around slipping me into halfness while I didn't know... Just you and me having fun this weekend."

"Deal. And maybe I can sway you to the dark side after all." David's eyes looked almost triumphant as he smiled at her.

As Willow smiled at him, she wondered if he would be right. And if she did go to the dark side, to David's side, would that be such a bad thing?

end Through the Eyes of a Teenager.