Chapter 3

Part 1

Death, Inevitable Death

(A/N) Disclaimer in the first chapter. Author's note at the end of chapter 3.

The dungeon-like room was cold, damp, and dim. The stink of urine and feces along with the smell of burned, bloody flesh lingered in the air.

23 year old Emma Johnson sat naked on the cold dirty floor, stiff and in pain from having been shackled to the rough stone wall and tortured for hours at a time. Emma's brown bangs long and matted with blood, hung over her eyes as she rested her heart shaped chin on her burned chest.

She came to terms with the fact her death was fast approaching, and more importantly, she welcomed it.

Her blood from various slashes along her torso had long since dried on her tan skin which made her torso very stiff and sticky. Her bruised and battered body had dark burn marks that decorated her forearms, chest, and inner thighs. It would seem her captors became very fond of using matches.

Sometimes, when the other vampires tortured poor Emma, their dark haired mistress would join them. She would giggle manically as she swayed back and forth, thrusting her hips and caressing her own thighs as she gleefully danced to the sound of Emma's screams.

She then babbled about getting back her Spike and getting even with her mean, rotten Daddy for leaving them like he did. She would tell the girls many descriptive stories about her Daddy and Spike and the many naughty things they did together. Then, delighted with their revulsion, she giggled again and left the room in search of someone to eat.

Across the dank room, Danielle Sweed, a young blond witch and Emma's long time girlfriend and lover, sat in an old wingback chair. She was chained to a small wooden square table filled with ingredients for various spells the vampires' Mistress obviously wanted her to cast.

On many occasions, as she called her magic around her, she felt another power push against hers as it tried to counteract the spells; and one time it succeeded. A man's loud voice shouted in her head 'ENOUGH!' and suddenly her magic was painfully pushed back as the man gained control. It had been a very frightful encounter, but Danielle was impressed with his strength. And then she was terrified. Not for herself, but for Emma.

After that incident, Emma was tortured again for Danielle's failure to complete the spell. It was that moment the vampires decided to experiment with fire.

"Emma, look at me luv. Emma, look at me." Danielle tried desperately to get her lover's attention as she stared at Emma with pale blue eyes. A dainty round face frowned at the lack of movement from her girlfriend.

She spoke in a voice still husky from her screams.

"Emma, sweetheart, don't do this. Don't give up. We are going to get outta here, baby. I promise." Danielle crooned to Emma, trying to get her girl to open her eyes.

"Oh, she's quite right." A soft, Cockney accent replied from the doorway and a childish giggle filled the room. "She is goin' to die and you're goin' to watch like a good 'lil witch."

Danielle glared dangerously at the figure of the beautiful dark haired vampire as she slowly prowled across the room to Emma's sagging form. It appeared Emma was almost grateful to hear of her death slip from the vampire's mouth.

"Run and catch. Run and catch. The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch." The vampire sang softly as she ran her fingertips over the top of Emma's dark head. "I think it's time to release the lamb." Drusilla replied as she dropped gracefully down to her knees in front of her prey, folding her red sundress under her knees.

She grabbed a hold of Emma's brown, matted hair and roughly jerked the girl's head back exposing the length of her slender neck. She grinned madly as she listened to Emma's soft, painful whimpers.

"Please. Please…" the young woman begged.

"Such a good lil lamb," she cooed. "She makes such sweet noises for mummy."

The woman's face transformed, her forehead became bumpy and her razor sharp fangs grew longer. She growled before she sank them into Emma's neck and ripped the tender skin. Both Danielle and Emma screamed as the woman drank deeply from the bleeding wound; the screams drowned out the sound of Dru's loud swallows and soft moans. Emma's small hands pushed uselessly against the vampire's stronger body as she instinctively tried to fend the demon off.

"NO!" Danielle screamed. She struggled against her shackles which cut into her small wrists, making them bleed as she helplessly watched Emma grow weaker by the second. "Please no." She begged softly.

Dru lifted her head from Emma's neck and didn't bother to lick the bleeding wound closed. She turned and smiled at Danielle with bloody teeth as she raised her delicate wrist to her lips.

The witch gasped in horror as Dru tore off a chunk of flesh with her razor sharp fangs then placed her bleeding wound against Emma's lips. The young woman opened her mouth and drank slowly at first. She wrapped her long fingers around the vampire's deceptively strong wrist sucked the wound harder as she swallowed the sweet blood with her sore throat. She made small keening noises and Dru smiled softly as if Emma were a child.

"Shhh, lil lamb." Dru sang as she ran her fingers over Emma's matted hair and cooed to her newest Childe. "Mummy's here. Mummy needs you strong, like me. You're goin' help Mummy get her Spike back like a good 'lil lamb, you are."

Dru felt Emma's pulls on her wrist slow and took it away from an Emma. She unlocked the shackles and curiously watched the young woman's lifeless body as it dropped to the floor.

"W-where are you taking her?" Danielle demanded as Dru scooped the witch's dead lover.

"I'm takin' her where she can talk to the stars with her other brothers and sisters. They will whisper many wicked, wicked things to her." She stood and cradled Emma's body close. "We'll be a big happy family again."

Tears streamed down Danielle's face as she watched Dru approach the doorway and a few of her minions pushed past their mistress and wandered into the room, sporting their demon faces and growling softly. Dru paused before she reached the door then turned to the young witch and cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive child.

"What is her favorite flower?"

"W-what?"

"My new daughter, what is her favorite flower?"

"You want to know her favorite flower? Why the hell do you want to know…ughh."

One of the minions grabbed Danielle roughly around the throat and squeezed. Tears of pain stung the witch's eyes as she tried to speak around her closed throat.

"Roses. Pink roses are her favorite." She gasped out.

She sputtered and coughed after he roughly let go of her slender throat with a shove.

"Pink roses." Dru murmered as she peered down at her Childe. She looked back at Danielle. "My favorites are daisys. Do you like daisies?"

"Um…they're pretty." Came the shaky answer.

"I always planted daisys, but they would always wither and die." Dru looked sad for a moment. "Why does everything I plant wither and die?"

She then smiled unexpectedly at Danielle as she licked a drop of Emma's blood from the corner of her mouth.

"He's close."

"W-who's close?"

"My Spike. He's close. I can hear his blood callin' to me." She began to hum and dance as she held Emma's body even tighter. She stopped and looked directly at her minions.

"I don't think we need her anymore." Dru happily grinned at her minions. "Kill her."

"No! No! I did what you asked!" Danielle screamed at Dru's back as the vampire left with her Emma. She watched in horror as the growling vampires slowly stalked toward her.

Her screams were music to their ears.

A half moon hung in the night sky and cast a bit of light down on a quiet swampy area of Louisiana. A gorgeous vampire with shoulder length blond hair and athletic build trudged through the mud in a lovely pink skirt suit complete with a beautiful pair of pink pumps that had a two inch heel.

Now, if anyone would ask why the vampire decided to venture out into the mucky swamps dressed in a pink skirt suit wearing a pair of pink heeled pumps, Pam would merely growl and state it was no one's business why she dresses the way she does and should not be questioned.

That and her Master and Sheriff of area 5, Eric Northman, interrupted her date with a beautiful, curvy, open minded brunette in order to send her on this ridiculous goose hunt. She was supposed to be having wild, kinky lesbian sex at that moment-she was not supposed to be playing Pam the Vampire Hunter.

She swore loudly as she looked down and found her feet completely immersed in cool, soft, sticky mud. It happened to be times like these she just knew fate was laughing its ass off at her. Pam growled as she removed her feet from her ruined pumps and resumed her search barefoot.

Supposedly she was hunting a demon version of a vampire; dreadful creatures she'd been told and ugly too when they allowed their face to slip into their demon mask. With yellow eyes, bumpy foreheads, and teeth and fangs longer and sharper than her own they supposed to be quite formidable.

Of course, she had yet to actually find this formidable demon vampire.

Suddenly, Eric's ringtone, Anthrax's I Am the Law, echoed through the silent swamp from her blazer pocket. Pam rolled her eyes and dug out her phone; and after she stomped down the urge to throw said phone into the mud and stalk off in a different direction, she flipped the gadget open and answered.

"Yes?"

"Pam, there's been another sighting, quite recently. A small local restaurant owner stated one of his employees was abducted by, and I quote, an ugly ass mother fucker with a funky forehead and yellow eyes, unquote."

"I am beginning to believe these, quote ugly ass mother fuckers end quote, are nothing more than a figment of a pathetic human's imagination just to make my life hell."

"Gee Pam," Eric deadpanned, "Why don't you tell me how you really feel?"

"I would, but then you would probably fire me or kill me. As I actually do have bills to pay and do not have a death wish, it is wise to keep my feelings to myself. For now."

"Yes, I do believe I shall keep you around, oh Childe of mine." Eric chuckled softly at his Childe's irritation. "Continue your search of the swamps for now. If the employee has been taken there is nothing we can do."

"Nothing we can do?"

"Well, nothing I care to do. Let the human's police handle the abduction for now. If the human is turned then we will deal with the problem."

"And if I do happen to come across a demonic vampire?" Pam asked.

"Kill it. They have entered my area without permission; therefore they do not have safe passage. I do believe the queen will agree with my decision."

"Yes Sir. And Eric?"

"Yes?"

"You owe me a new pair of pink pumps."

"Pink pumps? You mean the ones with the two inch heel?"

"Yes."

"That is why I pay you so well, Pam. I have no doubt you can afford your own pink pumps."

"Bastard."

"Of course I am. And Pam?"

"Yes?"

"Those really were fabulous pumps."

Pam, ignoring Eric's soft laughter, snapped her phone closed and continued, quite unhappily, with her search of the swamp. She muttered rather loudly about ungrateful Masters who refused to replace damaged footwear as she passed by a large dead log around seven feet long and a good six feet in width. She didn't seem to notice two pairs of glowing eyes tucked safely under the underbrush alongside the rotting log.

Two vampires, a man and a woman, both dressed in black jeans and black tee shirts, glanced at each other as they listened to Pam's phone conversation. They watched her practically stomp past their hidey-hole, secure in the knowledge she did not sense them.

The dark haired male nodded to the blond female and they backed out of their hiding place.

"We need to warn the Sire," the female stated as she stood and brushed chunks of dirt and mud off her jeans. "She needs to know what the Sherriff has planned…"

Her strangled voice caught the male's attention and he turned to gaze at her, first in curiosity, then in fear. His blond companion stood a couple feet away with a surprised look on her face. Her mouth gaped open and she stared at a woman's bloody fist that protruded through her chest and clutched her dead heart.

The fist flexed and the heart crumbled to dust followed soon by the female vamp. As her ashes fell to the ground, the male found himself staring at a very pissed off Pam. She gave him an evil grin as she held up her bloody hand and sweetly waved her fingers at him. The grin then twisted into a snarl.

"You are not welcome here." She simply stated before she lunged at him.

The vampire screamed in pain as he felt the bones in his neck snap and crack. The last thing he saw were his own jean clad legs as his head hit the muddy ground, then his body turned to dust.

At first Jason Stackhouse thought he was losing his damn mind when he could have sworn he saw a wisp of a girl running for all she was worth along side of the road. His blue eyes grew wide when the headlights of his truck confirmed his suspicions.

Even from this distance, he could tell the poor thing was barefoot and dirty. When she glanced around, she seemed to sense something that scared the shit out of her and she began to run faster.

Jason knew the area was not a good one, especially for a young woman by herself at night. Weird things happened in these parts, not to mention since Vampires came out of the coffin so to speak, damn bloodsuckers were everywhere.

He pulled his truck up alongside her and hit the button that rolled down the passenger side window.

"Get in!" He yelled and motioned her to the truck.

Her long brown hair whipped around her head when she looked over her shoulder. Panting and eyes wide with fear, she looked back at him and nodded. Poor thing got the shit beat outta her, that was for sure. Jason felt anger build up inside him when he looked at her face.

She had a split lip, several small cuts on her face and a nice sized bruise on her cheekbone. It also looked like she had a black eye. For just a moment he thought back to the time his sister Sookie had the crap beat outta her by his supposed best friend before the bastard tried to kill her. Jason shook his head to clear it of the memory.

That memory was best saved for another time, like when he had his trusty bottle of Jack Daniels with him.

He leaned across the passenger seat and opened the door for her. She whispered quiet thanks as she quickly climbed in and shut the door, then gave Jason a small smile before she turned to look out the window.

"Um, not to be bossy or nothin'," she drawled in what sounded like a Texan accent, "but I think it'd be a good idea to get the hell outta dodge. Right now!"

"Sweet Jesus!" Jason cried as he spotted the biggest wolf he'd ever seen ran toward the truck. He stomped on the gas and they took off.

"God, thank you!" The girl sighed as she turned back around in her seat. "Thank you so much."
"You are very welcome. And if you don't mind me askin', why the hell was that big ass wolf comin' after you?" Sure, it wasn't the most creative question, but he felt the situation called for a more direct approach.

"Well, it's probably because I ran his family jewels through with a crowbar. Then again, he and his vampire did kidnap me yesterday at least I think it was yesterday. I'm really not quite sure. Time seems to go a little wonky when you are knocked out and then wake up and find yourself in a trunk. Lucky for me those two left some handy dandy weapons in the trunk. If they meant to do that I'm not sure, but hey who cares, right? I'm finally safe now at least I think I'm safe now, unless you're some kind of serial killer, like the Boston Strangler or somethin'. You're not, are you? Some kind of serial killer, I mean. Then again, I doubt you'd actually tell me if you really were…and oh my god, I'm babbling. I'm sorry…"

Jason cut her off when he reached over and put his index finger on her lips.

"Breathe." He commanded.

He chuckled softly when she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She smiled at him.

"I'm sorry." She said as she folded her small hands in her lap. "I tend to babble when I'm nervous."

"I noticed." He grinned at her. "Tell ya what, why don't I take you to the hospital and then we can go see Bud down at the station. I'm sure he can help you."

"I don't need a hospital, I'm fine."

"You have blood on you."

"It's not exactly mine. Well, not all of it."

"Well, we should at least get that eye checked out. Maybe even have them look at your feet…"

"No. No hospital. No police. If you can just get me to a phone I have someone I can call. They will help me. I promise."

"Well, we could go back to my place…" Jason paled, "Oh my god, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for that to sound like a pickup line."

Fred looked at him for a minute, and even with his eyes on the road, he felt her brown eyes stare at him as she weighed his suggestion.

"Well, okay." She said after a moment. "we can do that. But just so you know, if you hurt in me in any way, I have friends that can make sure your family never finds the body."

Jason shuddered at her threat. "Damn, woman. You're scary, you know that."

"Nah. If I was that scary I never would have been taken in the first place."

"I almost feel bad for the idiots that took ya."

"I don't." She whispered.

"Like I said, almost. I'm sure the bastards will get what's comin' to 'em."

The girl smiled and held out her hand, hoping to change the subject.

"I'm Fred."

"Fred?" Jason raised his eyebrows.

She giggled. "It's short for Winifred."

"Oh. Well then. It's nice to meet you Fred." He wrapped his larger hand around her smaller one. "I'm Jason."

"It's nice to meet you Jason. And thank you, again."

Jason grinned. "Knight in shining armor at your service, ma'am." He glanced down at himself. "Well, Knight in shining shorts and muscle shirt."

Fred giggled again.

"Well, little lady. What say you to goin' back to my place for a bite to eat and you can get yourself cleaned up, and then make that phone call. Then we'll take it from there."

"That would be wonderful!" Fred sighed as she laid her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes.

Soon she would be able to call Angel and let him know where she was so he could send Spike to come get her. She smiled to herself as she drifted off and dreamed of her blond vampire.

Amber eyes watched the truck as it sped away and the large wolf they belonged to snarled at the back of the vehicle. The creature growled and turned to trot off in the opposite direction.

It was time to inform Claude's Mistress of the bad news.

The wolf lifted its head and sniffed the air. He had the girl's scent now, so she would be very easy to track. He needed to get back to check on the vampire and probably let him feed so he could heal the neck wound their captive gave him.

This wasn't turning out to be the easy job they anticipated. No, after this was over he decided he was going to move somewhere far, far away, possibly St. Louis. He heard they had a decent pack.

(A/N) Emma Johnson, Danielle Sweed, Claude, and Samuel are my own characters and are not from AtS or SVM. See Disclosure in 1st chapter. This is actually supposed to be just a filler chapter. I did have a couple readers email me request another scene with Dru. Thanks for reading everyone, and thank you Kzombi3 and Lilykep for your support!