TITLE: Darkest Before Dawn 30

TITLE: Darkest Before Dawn 30 "Disharmony"

AUTHOR: Nmissi
PART:30/?

DISCLAIMER: I own Nothing and No one. Especially not Spike. If I did,
what makes you think I'd share him with you?
DISTRIBUTION: Want it? Take it. Just let me know where it's going.

Feedback: Please. Nmissi@aol.com
SUMMARY: The way the world would work if I wrote the Buffyverse.

NOTE: I love Spike. I adore Spike. I do not hate Him. I am a redemptionista and a B/S Shipper. I am Not David Fury. Hate mail will be used to line catboxes.

Harmony kicked her shoes off and sank back against the highbacked Victorian sofa, relishing the feel of velvet underneath her.

After all those miserable months in that smelly crypt, she'd never thought to see the likes of this again. But here she was, in a posh hotel in Los Angeles, with room service and cable tv.

Unlife doesn't get any better than this, she reflected

A knock sounded at the door, and she bounded up.

"Room service sure is quick here. ' Just a minute," she called, as she rummaged through her purse for a tip.

But she opened the door not on a bellhop, but on a pretty brunette in a stylish business suit.

"Harmony?" she questioned.

The blonde vamp tried to decide whether she should admit to her identity. To the best of her somewhat limited knowledge, only Lady Maab and her minions knew where she was right now.

The brunette realized her mistake, and extended a hand forward.

"Please excuse me, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Lilah Morgan, with Wolfram and Hart? I have some business to go over with you; it shouldn't take long."

She was all ease and friendliness; Harmony felt herself warming to her instinctually. She stepped back, welcoming and gracious.

"Oh. Sorry. Didn't recognize you. Were you at the meeting this morning?"

An odd look passed through Lilah's eyes.

"Unfortunately, no. I was unavoidably detained."

She moved towards the table by the window, and laid her briefcase upon it. She clicked it open, and brought out a stenotape machine.

"I'm here to take your official statement. For the Senior Partners," she explained.

Harmony's brow wrinkled.

"I thought we were doing that tomorrow," she said.

Lilah nodded.

"We've had to adjust our timeframe a bit. Something's come up, and I won't be available in the morning."

She pulled out a seat, and motioned for Harmony to join her. The young vamp did so, and Lilah began a restrained interrogation.

"You can imagine how surprised and pleased we all were, to learn about you, Harmony. The Seat of Aurelius has been unoccupied for some time. The best information we had indicated the line died out about five years ago. So it was with no small amount of amazement we greeted this morning's disclosure."

Harmony looked at her, confused.

Too many large words, thought the lawyer. Damn. She'd have to come down to the girl's level.

"I mean, it's a very happy day for us at the Firm. We've handled the accounts of the House of Aurelius for many generations. Most of the funds and properties have been locked up in probate for a good while, now."

She flashed the girl an avaricious grin.

"And locked up accounts don't really experience much activity, as you can well imagine. And if the money doesn't move, we don't get very much of it."

Harmony's eyes glittered.

"You mean, I might, y'know, "Unlock" those accounts?"

Lilah nodded.

"I have papers here to create you an expense account, for the interim- Until everything's settled. But there's a good deal of property to be disposed of amongst the heirs. Homes, jewels, money- I believe there's even a medieval title involved somewhere."

Her shoulders sagged and a sigh of disapproval came into her words.

"Of course, that will likely go to Angel, as the eldest male. All these old bloodlines follow archaic rules of Primogeniture, "Eldest male" heir, you know how it goes."

Then she continued.

"But there's still a tidy sum available for proven descendants. And since there seems to be so few of them, you, my dear, stand to become very rich."

Harmony was so excited she nearly bounced in her seat.

" Wow!"

The pleasure dropped off her face as she struggled to grasp the numbers involved.

"Just how much money are we talking about here?" she asked.

Lilah gave her a toothpaste-commercial smile.

"Millions."

Then she went businesslike again.

"We just need to verify you as a claimant. It's routine procedure. Let's begin with your birth. Who was your sire, Harmony?"

Harmony cast her eyes downward.

"I really, uh, I really don't know. I mean, I didn't get his name."

Sympathy washed over Lilah's face.

"You were orphaned?"

Orphaned. Yeah, that's what Spike called it, the girl thought. When he was feeling all miserable and lonely, and sometimes would be nice to me. He'd say we were both orphans in the world.

Fucking Asshole.

Hope he's blistering in the sun.

She looked back up at the lawyer.

"Yeah, I guess so. I woke up in the Moorman Bros. Funeral home."

She'd woken up on a tilted table, her blood being drained into the side groove. A few minutes more, and all she would have had in her veins was embalming fluid. She was grateful they hadn't planned her an autopsy. But it wasn't like her cause of death was a mystery or anything.

The old man in the room, the mortician, she supposed; he'd reacted instantly to her awakening. Apparently it wasn't all that unusual in his line of work- He'd gone for a wooden stake from the instruments table.

To her everlasting shame and horror, she'd been so frightened and hungry she'd eaten him. After he was drained, she'd been physically ill, her mortal self still coming to grips with her demon. She'd vomited in the room, and cried over the body as she stuffed it into the refrigeration unit. Then she'd searched the room, and been pleasantly surprised to find her new DkNy dress there.

She remembered the horror of putting it on, thinking about her parents. They'd sent it there to have her buried in it, most likely.

She was dead to them.

Even now, that part was still terribly painful.

Lilah's voice dragged her back to the present.

"What can you tell me about your maker, then? You did see him, didn't you?"

She nodded.

"Just some vamp at Graduation."

She motioned with her hands.

"He was Yaay big, 'bout this tall. Big shoulders."

Lilah licked her lips, and her eyes darkened.

"What did he taste like?" she asked softly.

Harmony's eyes darted away.

"I dunno. Kind of like ice cream. All cold, and wet. His blood was thick, y'know? Really rich, and good."

Lilah nodded imperceptibly.

"Go on. What else do you remember? It is vital we establish your link to the line."

Harmony shrugged.

"I don't know what else I can tell you. I never saw him again."

Lilah pressed onward.

"But why did he make you, why not just kill you?"

Harmony remembered that night very vividly. The way his vamp face fell away as she died in his arms. Such a look of sorrow. She'd almost believe he hadn't meant to kill her, that he wasn't able to control himself. He'd fed her from his arm, and then blackness had claimed her.

She had to believe he'd been staked in the commotion. Surely he would never have left her to rise alone like that, in the funeral home. She sort of thought maybe he'd cared about her, from the look on his face when he bit his arm. He had just looked so damn SORRY about the whole thing.

"I don't really know why. He seemed to feel kinda bad about killing me."

She shrugged.

"Maybe it was his way of making it up to me."

Lilah's phone buzzed, and she reached into the valise to retrieve it. Apologetically she glanced over to Harmony, as she switched off the recorder.

"Sorry. I have to take this."

Harmony nodded.

"Yes? Um Hm. Yes I'm here with her right now."

She put her hand over the receiver.

"It's a coworker, he's got some papers for me. Would you mind if he brought them up? It'll only take a second."

Harmony nodded, waving her hand dismissively.

"Sure. No problem."

Lilah spoke back into the phone.

"Yes. Room 312. We'll be waiting for you."

She turned back to the girl.

" It'll be a few minutes. Tell me, is the hotel to your liking? Is there anything that you need? The firm is most happy to oblige you in whatever way possible."

Harmony ruminated on her circumstances since waking up that night, and decided things were finally looking up for her.

"No, really, you guys have been TOO kind. New clothes, new haven…Fresh blood I didn't have to hunt for. What more could a girl ask for?"

Someone rapped the door.

Lilah rose.

"Do you mind?"

She made to open it, and Harmony nodded.

"Go ahead."

Lilah opened it, and let two men into the room.

"Is she?" Angel asked.

Lilah shook her head affirmatively.

"I think so. Vlad I'd'ed her, you know. But you'll know best if she's ours."

Angel advanced upon a now confused Harmony.

"Hey, who are you?"

Her voice rose in anger.

"Wait a minute, I know you, You're-"

He cut her off as he seized her wrist.

"Your family," he finished for her, as he inhaled the potent smell of her blood.

Looking over his shoulder, he nodded to the pair.

"Looks like she's our girl, Lilah, Lindsay."

His dark eyes sought hers, and put fear in her unbeating heart.

"We're taking you out of here. If you're a good girl, I'll see to it you're well taken care of. If you're not-"

He smiled wickedly.

"If you're not, well, I'll exercise my rights as head of the Line"

He looked at her, and softened his voice.

"Do you know what that means?"

She shook her head fiercely as she struggled to escape his vicelike grip.

"The head of the Bloodline, the Master, he has the power of life and death over his childer. It means if I want to, I can kill you. And no one can contest my right to do so."