Disclaimer - I do not own any of BtVS or AtS characters.
They all belong to the Joss Pack. Other non BtVS or AtS characters are all mine.
Part 12/???
Distribution - FINNatics, The Hellmouth Chronicles and my site - The Claddagh
Fanfiction Archive. Other people please ask me first I will probably say
yes.
Timeline: Set some time after "In the Woods"
SPOILERS: Anything before IN THE WOODS
Rating: PG maybe... I am not that good with Ratings
AUTHOR'S NOTE 1 - No... I am not crazy. And yes... this is a Riley fiction.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 2 -It is not a Buffy/Riley shipper fanfiction. I am still a B/A
hopelessly shipper... I ship B/A, Cordy/Doyle, Willow/Oz... see... all the broken
couples : )
AUTHOR'S NOTE 3 - * * denotes internal thought.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 4 - THIS IS IMPORTANT.
It just occurred to me that I've never told you that in this world of mine,
Joyce is still alive. And Darla is lost somewhere, she left Drusilla right after
being sired by the crazy vampiress. Am I missing something? Of course! Once
I mentioned that Nariel was created following some Camarilla (Vampire The Masquerade)
guidelines. I just want you to know that it is true. Vampires in WhiteWolf world
can do thing you never even dreamt before. Nariel is a Ravnos, 800 year old
Ravnos, he has powers such as Chemistry, Presence, Protin and so we go.
Teaser: Training is over and Lea wants to fly to Riley.
Dedication: This piece goes specially to Chris who just couldn't stand Lea's
training any longer. And to Nicole, who just happens to love Graham and Dru.
This is the beginning of a big tale.
Special Dedication: To my friend Vanessa, who supports me through my moments
of insanity and complete madness and loves me anyway. For her who keeps telling
my other friends that they must read 'Wild is the Wind' and right now is ordering
the pages and making a little book for her own pleasure. Vanessa may God
bless you for all your lovingly patience. I love you!
Feedback: Please... mi casa es su casa. sigavino@ig.com.br / claddagh@ig.com.br
*****
Sunnydale
"I
can't stop thinking about her, Graham." Riley said with a shy smile stamped
on his face.
"About
who? Buffy?" Graham teased his friend.
"No
About Lea, man." He suddenly had a serious look on his face as he found
himself being involved in thoughts of Buffy. "Sure I think about Buffy
now and then. What we had was very strong. It was good and crazy. I loved
her madly, paid vampires to fed upon me in order to get darker trying to reach
her." He paused for a moment. "And I was wrong all the way. The
only thing she needed from me was time, and it was exactly what I couldn't
give her. Lea showed me that."
Graham
leaned on his chair and crossing his arms over his chest couldn't avoid a
thought.
*
Ops, revelation time.*
Smiling
at his friend's looks Graham asked.
"And
it is exactly what you're giving to Lea, isn't it? Time?"
Riley
leaned his elbows on the table, and resting his chin on his hands, spoke in
a dreamy way.
"
I would give Lea anything she asked me for. Time, love, sex, a cozy little
home out in the country. Two children, maybe three."
Graham
laughed out loud, but his laughter sounded bitter to his ears. There, right
in front of him, was his friend, dreaming about three children, while he wasn't
allowed to dream about a single son of his own. He kept looking at Riley trying
not to look so bitter and spoil his friend's happiness. But Riley's imagination
was running away with him too fast and he didn't seem to notice Graham's bitterness,
and continued to talk.
"I
am serious man. These last days I've got myself remembering the way she moves."
His smile was now wide open, stretched from ear to ear. "The ways, to
be more specific. How fast she is in the kitchen, how slowly she drives me
nuts, the way she drives her car, the way she bit her nail without breaking
it. The sound of her voice."
Riley's
voice was filled with emotion and he had to stop speaking. Her voice. It's
been three months since he last heard it, and still he could remember all
the modulations of her sweet voice. When she was nervous, excited or angry.
When she was sad and her voice was nothing but a whisper. When she moaned
into his ear in bed.
"You're
such a lucky guy." Graham's voice interrupted the course of his thoughts.
Riley raised his eyes to his friend and Graham continued. "You know
to have a girl like her is truly a dream come true. Of all the men in the
world she belongs to you."
"Just
like Dru belongs to you, Graham." Riley said trying to cheer his friend
up.
Graham
rolled his eyes.
"Dru.
She doesn't belong to me. She's with me because she knows there's no way she
could survive out there alone." Graham tried to sound as if it was not
a big deal. " As long as she stays here, there will always be fresh blood
for her, a roof to protect her from the sun and " he paused, taking
a deep breath before continuing. "Me. There will always be me. Waiting
for her. Truth is Riley, I do belong to Drusilla but she'll never belong to
me. Not the way Lea belongs to you. Not in any similar way."
Riley
raised from his chair and walked to Graham, squeezing his shoulder in sympathy.
Graham closed his eyes, hiding all his pain, shutting his fears inside of
himself. Both men were so involved into that moment of grieve that none of
them noticed the dark haired vampiress hiding behind the kitchen door. Her
face stained with tears, as she rocked restlessly an old doll in her arms
whispering to the wind.
"I
do love you, baby. I do love you."
But
she knew it was not worthy trying to convince her blue eyed baby right now.
He would always think that she was with him because it was convenient for
her, and not because she loved him. But one day soon, she was going to tell
the moon about her love for Graham, and the moon would make him believe that
she could not go on without him.
She
dried her tears with the back of her hand and tried to steady her voice as
she cried.
"My
boys, dinner will be ready in ten minutes."
Riley smiled.
"C'mon
Graham. Let's eat something and try not to be so sad." Graham raised
his eyes to Riley as his friend spoke. "Dru needs you. I mean it. And
love is that, needing, wanting. Give her a chance."
"As
many chances as she needs, Riley. As many chances as she needs."
Riley
pushed the chair into the kitchen and soon the three were sitting on the table
talking about amenities. Riley gave Dru some compliments on the dinner and
told her again that as soon as Lea arrived they would have a lot to talk to
where food was concerned. Dru could not hold her smile and Riley asked.
"What?"
She
giggled.
"You're
doing that thing again." She pointed at his face. "You're raising
your brow and looking idiotic happy." She giggled even more as Riley
tried to look normal. Graham gave her a fake angry look and squeeze her hand
under the table.
"Drusilla,
I thought we'd agree to let him be as idiot as possible when talking about
Lea."
"Okay,
okay! Enough of that!" Riley manage to say between their giggles. "I've
got something to show you."
As
he shoved his hand onto his pocket Graham argued.
"Oh,
no Riley. Please stop with the revelations, I think I've had enough of them
for just one night."
Drusilla
left her chair and sat on Graham's lap, caressing his neck as she spoke.
"Shh
let the golden boy speak, baby. It is an important announcement."
Riley
locked his eyes with Dru. No matter how long he'd been living with her, he'd
never get used with her abilities to foresee the future. He gave her a little
smiled and showed them a tiny blue velvet box. Drusilla clapped her hands
in exctasy as Riley opened the box showing a 18k gold ring adorned with three
heart shaped diamonds. Graham glanced quickly at the box, his heart still
hurting as he asked.
"A
ring. You bought Lea a ring?"
Riley
nodded.
"Yeah,
I bought it this morning. The jeweler told me that these three hearts represent
past, present and future." Riley paused and pushed the box into Drusilla's
direction. "I am going to ask Lea to spend the rest of her life with
me."
Both
men watched as Drusilla carefully touched the ring without taking it off its
velvet nest. She was mesmerized by its beauty and remained in silent. Riley
asked her softly.
"What
do you think Dru? Is she going to take me? Is she going to say yes? Do your
stars tell you something?"
Slowly,
Drusilla closed the box and when she spoke, her voice was just a whisper.
"Yes till death do you apart, she will be yours."
Once
again the two men were too distressed with their own inner feelings and none
of them noticed the the dark shadow covering her eyes. Dinner was over and
it was time to go to bed. Taking the box into his hand, Riley wished Dru and
Graham a good night and headed to his room.
****
Rio de Janeiro
All
her things were already packed on the two suitcases laying by her bed. The
last three months had been a mix of blessed heaven and deep anguished hell,
but once again Lea proved that she could take it. And now her reward time
had come, two more days and she would be flying to Los Angeles and meeting
Riley again. Still something in her head kept pushing her to move faster,
somehow she knew she needed to see him earlier.
After
Riley's last phone call, Nariel became a little restless but kept assuring
her that everything was alright with her boyfriend and that things were running
smooth down on the Hellmouth. He tried so hard to convince Lea that Riley
was okay, that ended up creating many suspicions into her mind. Something
was wrong and she knew it. And, knowing that once the gypsy inheritance had
been awaken inside Lea's mind, there was no way to keep trying to hide the
truth from her, Nariel wisely avoided being alone with her as much as he could.
The training was over, and so were the long conversations they used to have.
And no matter how hard she kept asking around, no one seemed to know where
the vampire was. It was almost as if he had disappeared into the air in a
cloud of smoke.
So,
she had no one to talk to when she decided to go searching for Riley in a
magical way. She knew she surely could use Nariel's help this time, but he
didn't seem that eager to be found and Lea was left with no options but to
project herself into the Hellmouth astral area alone. With a sight, she remembered
the vampire's warnings concerning this specific astral area, how she could
end up tangled there and never be able to return. The demons and lost souls
that wandered through the limbo of the Hellmouth who would be happy to welcome
her as their knew companion in suffer, pain and despair. She was quite aware
of everything she would be risking, but she also was aware that she needed
to get to Riley. All the monsters and demons meant nothing to her where Riley
was concerned.
Slowly,
she raised from the bed and walked to the old chest where all the ritual objects
were kept and opened the lock. After spending three whole months dealing with
them, those objects still had the power to bewitch her, and would probably
have this power for all eternity. Carefully she grabbed a silver bowl and
seven candles, each one of them with a different color. Red for passion, white
for peace, pink for love, green for hope, yellow for prosperity, black for
protection and the purple one, consecrated to all the unseen powers. Lea put
them on her bed, and turned once again to the chest, picking up a large red
silk sheet. As she closed her eyes and started praying for Saint Sara's protection,
her skilled hands unfolded the sheet revealing the golden symbols painted
on it. Stars, hammers and moons where cabalistic placed on the sheet, making
a rectangle where she would have to lay.
The
sheet felt down perfectly on the floor, not even a little wrinkle showing
in it. It made Lea a little more confident and she felt like this was the
right thing to do. Kneeling down, she filled the bowl with water and placed
it on the edge of the sheet. As she was lighting the candles, a rhythmic chant
in Romani started to flow from her lips, a chant praising all the elder powers,
begging them to protect her on her way back and forth. A dark enchantment
that she was casting in order to keep her light brighter while traveling through
the Hellmouth, keeping all the demons away from her. Lea raised her voice
as she lit the fireplace and threw the herbs inside it. A powerful smell surrounded
her body and she started to feel the power of the spell. Keeping her mind
on the fire, she sat on the sheet and looked inside the bowl. For a moment
all she could see was her brown eyes staring back at her but then the colors
changed and she saw herself travelling through a black tunnel. The wind was
blowing strongly and she felt something touching her face. It was almost like
wings, big black wings that wrapped her and caressed her face. Lea felt no
fear, she closed her eyes and went on chanting, never letting her voice sound
a tune lower.
*
As fast as it had begun, it will end.*
Her
ears were filled with terrible sounds now. Screams and howls of pain and despair,
someone was laughing out loud, a wicked and evil laughter that made her skin
crawl. The sound of the screams was almost unbearable and Lea tried to raise
her hand to her ears to block the sound, but the wind was too strong and she
could not move her arms.
Suddenly
the wings protecting her opened and Lea could see the astral area of the Hellmouth.
Faces contorted in pain looking right back at her, eyes with a glare of insanity
penetrating her soul. One of the demons reached for her, its ugly grey hand
with claws that seemed to be bleeding almost touched her white skin. She didn't
scream cause she needed to keep chanting, but she could feel the fear taking
over her. Then, as fast as it had begun, it was over. Just like she knew it
would be, and she was standing in the middle of Riley's room, looking at him
fast asleep on his bed.
*It
worked!*
Almost
as if he sensed her, he tossed and turned on the bed, murmuring on his sleep.
Lea took sometime to admire him. His broad chest under the white t-shirt,
his gorgeous legs entwined with the sheets, his golden hair falling on his
eyes. The sight of him always took her breath away, and for Riley, she would
do the craziest things in the world. For him and him alone. She took a step
closer to the bed and noticed that he had several bruises on his back, but
no new scars. All along she had that insane fear that Riley would abandon
himself once again to the addiction, and to notice no new scars on his body
made herself more confident. Never would she tell anyone how afraid she was
of the vampires whores of Riley's past, not even to her best friend.
When
she first met Riley, Lea run to her friend's house and told her about the
wonderful man that had just walked into her restaurant. For hours Vanessa
sat patiently listening while Lea babbled about Riley, about his eyes, his
hands, about how tall he was, about the way he smiled back at her. Lea had
been through that road before and only her friend knew how hard it had been
to go on living after her last love disillusion. Lea knew that Vanessa would
worry about her no matter how old they were. They were friends since adolescence
and had developed the habit of taking care of each other. Eighteen, twenty
or thirty years could pass by but it would never mean that they didn't need
to go on with the friendly protection one held towards the other.
As
she carefully sat by Riley's bed, Lea could still remember Vanessa's words
back that day.
"Lea,
the guy just had dinner at the restaurant. Please, don't fall for someone
that may vanish in the air." She had a concerned look as she added. "You
don't need this right now."
But
Riley did come back, over and over. He started dinning at Gitano's every night
and soon Lea was making him company and preparing special dishes for him only.
He ate with such a pleasure and passion that every time he kissed her on the
cheek saying his good-byes, she felt herself melting inside and running to
the phone to tell Vanessa about the Captain's last visit.
One
sunny morning she was arriving at the restaurant with her arms so full of
vegetables that she could barely see the door knob, and was surprised to find
Riley holding the door open for her. He explained that he had decided to drop
by a little earlier and invite her to lunch with him. He was irreducible about
the idea of lunching at another restaurant, and after delegating some tasks
to her staff, Lea let herself be driven to a small German restaurant in the
neighborhood and spent the most agreeable evening of the last 2 years in Riley's
amusing company. That very day she knew she had found her white knight.
She had never mentioned to no one anything about Riley's past. How could she
sit down for a lunch with Vanessa and say, 'Listen dear, before coming to
Brasil Riley was a vampire hunter. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you!! He
was also an addicted to their bites. Isn't that funny?'. Her friend would
drop dead. Forces of darkness wasn't one of Vanessa's favorite subjects, she
only knew some stuff cause Lea was always talking about occultism, tarot and
runes. She was one of the few people who knew about Lea's gypsy family, but
that didn't mean that Lea would have the courage to scare the hell out of
her best friend with vampire facts. Definitively, she would not take it very
well.
Smiling
at all those tender memories, Lea laid her eyes on Riley once again. He was
now laying on his side, holding the pillow near to his chest, his lips softly
parted as he breathed heavily. She let her eyes feast a little more on the
sight of him before touching his leg softly. She moved her fingers up and
down his thigh, playing teasingly with the curve of his knee as her other
hand found its way up to his chest. Flinching a little he muttered some words
that she could not understand and reached out to touch her. This was an automatic
move, Riley always reached for her during the night and she always let herself
be held into his iron arms until morning came. That night would be no exception.
As
his hand closed around her wrist, Lea closed her eyes and allowed Riley to
pull her closer to him.
Deep
into his sleep, he felt her body next to him, warm and soft, pulsing with
passion. Her scent invaded his brain and snaking his hand around her body,
Riley sank his head into her hair, breathing her, feeling her, loving her.
"Lea."
He whispered. "It's better not be a dream."
She
licked his earlobe and remained in silence. She didn't need any words to tell
him that it was not a dream. But Riley pushed her away and stared at her face,
drinking on the sight of her eyes, her lips. He moved his hands to her arms
and held her tight, shaking her a little.
"Tell
me this is not a dream. Tell me, before I go on. Cause I can't bare to wake
one more time covered in sweat and other things and find that you are not
by my side."
A
smiled was playing on her lips when she answered.
"This
is not a dream, captain. And this time no sweat or any other thing will be
wasted. I am truly here."
With
this, she kissed his lips with burning desire, a longing that had been consuming
her body over the last three months. She felt as his tongue invaded her mouth,
gently at the first touch, almost as if he was testing her lips, and then
became hungrier and demanding, taking her as his woman. Breathless, he broke
the kiss and whisper into her ear.
"You're
real. Oh my God, woman! You have no idea of how many times I've made love
to you in my dreams."
He
was now kissing her on the neck as his hands found their way down her ass.
Lea wrapped her leg around his body and answered in a growl.
"Then,
love me now, Riley. Make me feel alive."
Riley
kissed her month softly and holding her strongly into his arms he promised.
"Everyday.
I will love you forever and a day, and I will always make you feel alive."
As
Lea and Riley closed their eyes sharing that brief moment of peace, downstairs
Drusilla woke up screaming.
TBC
