Chapter I: Rebel With A Cause
"This man, Holtz, how does he keep finding us?!"
"Well, we stay in the best hotels, order room service, eat the waiters.
People talk."
-Angelus and Darla (respectively); Angel 2ADH09, "The Trial"
After checking into one of London's finer hotels, not an hour after their meeting with Angelus, Maximillian and Victoria were up in their room, and had ordered in for rare fillet mignons. The two sat in silence, but not for long, as someone rapped at the door.
"Oy! Room service!" came a voice from the other side.
"Maximillian, darling, could you get the door?" Victoria asked, batting her eyelashes and giving him a broad grin. Maximillian didn't say anything, but nodded in compliance, got up, and walked over to the door. He opened it, and stepped back ,as the waiter, a middle-aged man, rolled a trolley into the vampires' room.
With the waiter's back to him, Maximillian pointed to the waiter and cocked his head to one side, pleading with Victoria who grinned once more, and nodded, giving him permission. A sound like a sheet of paper ripping was heard, and Maximillian's face melted into the demon's.
It was quick, the waiter hadn't stopped rolling the trolley in the room, and Maxamillian's face was buried in the waiter's neck. The waiter got half of a scream out before Maxamillian's put his hand over the waiter's mouth, not even flinching at the sudden sound. His other hand held the waiter by the side of his head, and fed. When Maxamillian finally had his fill, he lifted his head up quickly, a small red mist hovering about the waiter's wound. Maxamillian let the waiter's body fall to the carpet with a thud and closed the hotel door, then sat down at the rocking chair in the room, facing Victoria who was sitting on the bed. Victoria arched and eyebrow.
"Finished?" she asked, almost impatiently.
"Yes, ma'am," Maxamillian replied quickly. At the sound of the word "ma'am", Victoria flinched.
"Oooh, no no no. Victoria will do, darling. They must have kept you on a tight leash at your master's house. Poor Maximillian, a serving waiter, nobody noticing his true potential," Victoria said in mock sympathy.
"Hmm. You seem to think me to have 'potential', though even at my master's home, I told you I didn't."
"Oh, Maximillian, why do you think I sired you? Hm? Why would I waste my time turning you into one of us?" Victoria asked, sighing.
"Erm. that is to say. Well, you never told me." he replied timidly. Victoria sighed, obviously exasperated.
"There is something special in you, as I've stated before. You were different than your foolish master, or any of his empty-headed guests. I could see something in you." Victoria trailed off, as the whole scene played itself out in her mind. "You see, Maximillian, when you've lived as long as I have, you begin to. um. hmm. Well vampires are evolving creatures.
"For example, The Master, a vampire as old as any on record, has the face of a bat, almost, and his mouth is stained with blood. or wine, I never asked. And another vampire, Kakistos, has hands and feet that are cloven, like that of a pig. They claim they've "grown past the curse of human features", as they cannot pose as human, but, really, they're just ugly.
"Now, other vampires, usually women, who have lived as long as I have, can. Well, watch." Victoria instructed. Maximillian didn't take his eyes off of his sire, as he saw her face contort into its true form, the demonic form. The hair from her eyebrows was gone, vanished, and her forehead was crafted into a scowl, almost, her canines growing longer, sharper, into fangs, but it was her eyes.. Solid red, they were, no pupil, no iris, only a deep crimson, like blood was inside of her eyes, trapped in two clear sacks set into her sockets. "Now, I can See. I can See everything. No vague, cryptic predictions that that crackpot Drusilla does, nay, I can See into your very. well. you don't have a soul, no vampire does, but I see your inner- demon. The Beast that just barely surfaces when you feed. In you, I see. Apollyon, the Destroyer. Apollyon is a demon, trapped within the Abyss of you. Every vampire has a demon in them- you just haven't unlocked yours. And that is why I made you. If that demon were unleashed, it would create havoc and mayhem among the humans, and the world will once again belong to the Old Ones. The vampires. That is our cause, Maximillian, and you play the most important part."
"This man, Holtz, how does he keep finding us?!"
"Well, we stay in the best hotels, order room service, eat the waiters.
People talk."
-Angelus and Darla (respectively); Angel 2ADH09, "The Trial"
After checking into one of London's finer hotels, not an hour after their meeting with Angelus, Maximillian and Victoria were up in their room, and had ordered in for rare fillet mignons. The two sat in silence, but not for long, as someone rapped at the door.
"Oy! Room service!" came a voice from the other side.
"Maximillian, darling, could you get the door?" Victoria asked, batting her eyelashes and giving him a broad grin. Maximillian didn't say anything, but nodded in compliance, got up, and walked over to the door. He opened it, and stepped back ,as the waiter, a middle-aged man, rolled a trolley into the vampires' room.
With the waiter's back to him, Maximillian pointed to the waiter and cocked his head to one side, pleading with Victoria who grinned once more, and nodded, giving him permission. A sound like a sheet of paper ripping was heard, and Maximillian's face melted into the demon's.
It was quick, the waiter hadn't stopped rolling the trolley in the room, and Maxamillian's face was buried in the waiter's neck. The waiter got half of a scream out before Maxamillian's put his hand over the waiter's mouth, not even flinching at the sudden sound. His other hand held the waiter by the side of his head, and fed. When Maxamillian finally had his fill, he lifted his head up quickly, a small red mist hovering about the waiter's wound. Maxamillian let the waiter's body fall to the carpet with a thud and closed the hotel door, then sat down at the rocking chair in the room, facing Victoria who was sitting on the bed. Victoria arched and eyebrow.
"Finished?" she asked, almost impatiently.
"Yes, ma'am," Maxamillian replied quickly. At the sound of the word "ma'am", Victoria flinched.
"Oooh, no no no. Victoria will do, darling. They must have kept you on a tight leash at your master's house. Poor Maximillian, a serving waiter, nobody noticing his true potential," Victoria said in mock sympathy.
"Hmm. You seem to think me to have 'potential', though even at my master's home, I told you I didn't."
"Oh, Maximillian, why do you think I sired you? Hm? Why would I waste my time turning you into one of us?" Victoria asked, sighing.
"Erm. that is to say. Well, you never told me." he replied timidly. Victoria sighed, obviously exasperated.
"There is something special in you, as I've stated before. You were different than your foolish master, or any of his empty-headed guests. I could see something in you." Victoria trailed off, as the whole scene played itself out in her mind. "You see, Maximillian, when you've lived as long as I have, you begin to. um. hmm. Well vampires are evolving creatures.
"For example, The Master, a vampire as old as any on record, has the face of a bat, almost, and his mouth is stained with blood. or wine, I never asked. And another vampire, Kakistos, has hands and feet that are cloven, like that of a pig. They claim they've "grown past the curse of human features", as they cannot pose as human, but, really, they're just ugly.
"Now, other vampires, usually women, who have lived as long as I have, can. Well, watch." Victoria instructed. Maximillian didn't take his eyes off of his sire, as he saw her face contort into its true form, the demonic form. The hair from her eyebrows was gone, vanished, and her forehead was crafted into a scowl, almost, her canines growing longer, sharper, into fangs, but it was her eyes.. Solid red, they were, no pupil, no iris, only a deep crimson, like blood was inside of her eyes, trapped in two clear sacks set into her sockets. "Now, I can See. I can See everything. No vague, cryptic predictions that that crackpot Drusilla does, nay, I can See into your very. well. you don't have a soul, no vampire does, but I see your inner- demon. The Beast that just barely surfaces when you feed. In you, I see. Apollyon, the Destroyer. Apollyon is a demon, trapped within the Abyss of you. Every vampire has a demon in them- you just haven't unlocked yours. And that is why I made you. If that demon were unleashed, it would create havoc and mayhem among the humans, and the world will once again belong to the Old Ones. The vampires. That is our cause, Maximillian, and you play the most important part."