Finding What You're Looking For
Disclaimer: All characters are the sole property of Joss Whedon and ME. My use of them is purely for entertainment value.
Author's Notes: This is from Riley's POV--thus, all thoughts about Buffy are strictly his own.
Sighing deeply to himself, Riley wiped futilely at the sweat
trickling down the back of his neck and looked out of the window into the
night. The evening was accompanied by the steady tatoo of water pounding
against the metal roof of the Quonset hut. It was raining, yet again. It had
been raining for weeks now. It felt like years.
They had cleaned out another nest of demons today before the nightly rains had
forced them to move back to base. The
resistance they'd encountered had been almost negligible, but that was most
likely because the Initiative had surprised the monsters at dawn, just when all
the females were lighting morning fires and the males were still abed. In fact, most of their raids had been like
that. Despite the
regular jungle forays, the greatest danger he'd found down in this nameless
Central American jungle were mosquitos the size of Huey helicopters and utter
boredom--and thoughts of her. Buffy, of course.
Because it was all her fault. It was her own obsession with
vampires that had caused him to seek out those fanged whores. It was her
stubborn refusal to see how he'd been driven to it, as well, that had put him
in the helicopter that took him away from Sunnydale. It was her unwillingness
to stop him that had kept him on it, of course. And now he was here, in the
heat and the mud.
He briefly considered shining his boots or straightening his room once more for
the umpteenth time, but there didn't seem much point in it. He threw himself down on his perfectly made
bed and tried to interest himself in the Initiative's training manual. After only a few moments, he tossed it
across the room and watched it land with a thud in the corner, startling a
small lizard. Sighing
once more, he rose from the table, grabbed his rain gear from the peg next to
the door, and headed out to the cantina. Drinking the local excuse for tequilla
with the rest of his unit wasn't his idea of a good time, but it beat the hell
out of sitting alone in his room thinking of her yet again. There was always
hope, after all, that he'd finally drink enough to forget about her.
The cantina was small, dingy, and ordering food could
rightfully be considered an attempted suicide. The music was loud, however, and
the alcohol was cheap and strong enough to kill anything that might be living
in the glasses. Although there were a few locals, the majority of the clientele
were soldiers like him. The air rung with raunchy jokes and boisterous
laughter. Surrounded by his fellow Initiates, he was well into his 6th beer and
4th or 5th shot. Consequently, it took a couple of minutes to register that the
rest of guys had fallen silent.
A young woman stood in the doorway. She was slender, almost
etheral. The low lighting picked out the blue highlights in her pure black hair
and her pale skin almost glowed. She wasn't exactly beautiful but the fact that
she was the only woman in the bar increased her attractiveness exponentially
and she had the attention of every male in the room. Although she seemed unconcerned about the water streaming off of
her, forming a puddle in the floor, none of the men failed to notice the way
her wet dress molded her body. Neither the regard nor the silence seemed to
make her nervous, however, and she walked with confidence towards the bar.
All the guys at Riley's table began to nudge one another as
they goaded each other about who would approach her. Riley couldn't believe it.
After all this time, how could they not know she was a vampire?? He stood up
and headed towards her amidst much hooting and hollering.
Without preamble, he grabbed her arm and turned her towards
him. She looked startled for a moment, but then she smiled up at him.
"Hello." She said, softly.
Just as softly, he said, "I know what you want."
She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Blood. You want blood." He continued.
"The moon is lost tonight but hides its face with tears,
for fear it will be found." She replied.
He was drunk enough that what she said seemed to make sense.
"You don't have to kill anyone tonight, vampire. Come
with me and I'll give you what you want." He continued.
"The King of Hearts used to love his Queen, but his heart
has been captured and hidden where I can't find it. The King has become the Joker
and the stars weep." She said, sadly.
Riley, his hand still on her arm, began to move towards the
door. The catcalls and hooting from his comrades grew louder as the two left
the building.
Within moments, the two had arrived at his hut and he invited
her inside. He began to unbutton his shirt. Once it was off, she stepped to him
and gently traced the scars of his other bites with one finger.
He cleared his throat.
"I told you that I could give you what you wanted."
She stepped closer and pressed a kiss to his chest. He put his
arms around her. She sniffed along his skin, breathing in deeply. He flinched
slightly when she looked up at him angrily.
"You smell of her. No, you stink of
her!"
He shook his head, trying to clear it of the beer and tequilla
enough to figure out what she was talking about.
She shoved him back and he hit his bunk hard.
"Everywhere I go, I find her! She is my curse!"
Riley was confused.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
She didn't answer him. Instead, she slowly stalked over towards
where he lay sprawled across the thin mattress.
"The stars whisper and moan!"
Her face changed into her vampire visage. His heart pounded
with a potent combination of fear and excitement.
"They make my head pound with their lamenting!" She
continued.
She straddled his hips. He panted, harshly. He lifted his
wrist to her.
"Do it!" He whispered/demanded.
She pushed his hand to the bed and pinned it under her knee.
Grabbing his other arm, she repeated the action. He couldn't move. She smiled
down at him. It was a predatory smile, full of the promise of death.
"You said you could give me what I want." She
whispered.
With that, Drusilla sank her teeth into his throat and drained
him dry.
