Lost

Portalkeeper87

A/N: R & R, please!

Warning: Lots of blood!

Chapter 6—Hostage

I woke up slowly, a dull pounding in my head. Hmm, my bed usually wasn't this cold…and what had awoken me? I didn't hear my alarm clock.

Popping my eyes open, I stared at a black velvet canopy, stained and worn from age. This wasn't home.

"Sh…" a soft voice whispered about a millimeter away from my ear. I could feel the breeze.

I rolled up to sit on the king-size bed, coming face-to-face with an extremely pale woman with long brown hair and bulging eyes. Freaky to say the least.

"Morticia?" I said stupidly, still only half-awake. This was like being of the set of the Addams Family. Only she was too thin too be Morticia, her hair too brown, her eyes too big.

The woman giggled, a girlish sound. Then her face changed again, too quickly for a sane person. "No, sweet girl, my name is Drusilla."

Oh, right. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still trapped in Buffyverse.

"Um, nice to meet you, Drusilla. How-how's Miss Edith today?" So maybe I'm not exactly a good conversation starter.

"Miss Edith thanks you for asking. She's been asking after you, too. Why, just tonight she asked if we could have you over for tea." Now Dru was smiling that special stay-away-from-me-I'm-insane smile.

At least she didn't want to drain me dry.

"Dru, let's eat her already," the peroxide vamp said in a bored tone, striding in with his duster swirling behind like a cape.

"Eat? But you guys don't eat flesh. Drink blood maybe. So why do you call it 'eating?'" I asked, truly curious.

"Bloody hell! How am I supposed to know every soddin' thing? It's just that way!" he yelled, banging his fist into the stone wall.

"Sh…" Dru said, giving Spike a rather disappointed look. "Play nice, puppy, or Mummy will have to punish you." She turned back to face me and slowly stroked my hair, sending shivers down my spine.

"Miss Edith doesn't want to eat dear Alexis. The stars say she knows secrets." Now Dru was half-hugging me, gently brushing my hair like I was a doll.

"Secrets, eh? What types of secrets could she know?" Spike rolled his eyes in contempt.

"Well, I know that Dru's only with you because her sire got cursed with a soul. When Buffy gives him a happy, we'll see how well you can keep her."

I swear he was going to strike me. I mean, his eyes were glowing yellow. But as usual, Dru was there, still playing with my hair like I was her personal doll.

"Bad dog," she said to her childe, making him glare even harder at me.

"That doesn't prove you know anything," Spike continued stubbornly. He looked kinda cute when acting all stubborn.

"Okay, Mr. Spike. But I also know that shortly before becoming cursed with a soul, Angel, then Angelus, took Dru to London for a little sojourn. Guess who she found in an alley bawling his eyes out because he just got rejected?" I loved watching him bristle, loved seeing the flush rise in his cheeks. Maybe I was just a tad sadistical…

"She found poor William that night and—"

"I think that's enough, dear," Dru said, still smiling. "Miss Edith says Spike will get very angry if you continue."

"Okay," I pouted. She was probably right…but I did love to have a target for torment…

What was the matter with me? I was a hostage, for crying out loud! Sitting here baiting the un-chipped Spike and finding reason in Drusilla's words.

My stomach rumbled loudly.

"Are you hungry, little girl? My birdies are hungry too. But they won't sing for me, no matter the seeds I give. Miss Edith is hungry."

"Uh, is there anything…edible here? In the crypt or the Factory, wherever we are?" I asked.

"Bloody hell! We don't keep food around to feed our prisoners," Spike grumbled.

"Miss Edith invited her over. So she's a guest. And we must be nice to our guests, Spikey, or Mummy will get very angry." She looked at me with a grin to match the one on the dead mother in Psycho. "What would you like for dinner?"

"Well…I like chocolate. Chocolate milkshakes, ice cream, bars…just about anything chocolate."

Dru shook her head. "Miss Edith doesn't eat sweets. It's bad for her teeth." Then her eyes lit up, even brighter than before. "I know what you like," she grinned evilly.

Calling Spike over, she whispered something in his ear.

"Dru! How—"

One pouty look from his sire sent him back to his seat. He called over a minion to bring a glass.

A glass of what?

The vampire that approached the bed was very tall and muscular, like a bodyguard. Maybe that's what he was. After setting down the empty champagne flute, he turned to leave. But Dru's bony hand shot out and grabbed his arm. Raising her sharp red nails, she slashed them quickly down his wrist.

The poor vampire gasped in pain, staring helplessly as his precious elixir trickled and filled the flute to the brim. Drusilla shoved him away.

"Drink it, Alexis. Be a good girl and eat all your supper."

I took a sip. Oh yes, this taste I remembered clearly. The cold thick, frothy liquid sliding smoothly down my parched throat, the velvety dark chocolate taste, the dark crimson drops that dribbled down my chin…

What chocolate milkshake could compare? Not even the ones at Hershey's was this dark, this rich, this potent…

Finishing the delicious beverage at last, I smiled up at my hostess. She was a very sweet lady…

"Dru, don't you have to go play with your birds now?" Spike asked in a talking-to-lunatics voice. Drusilla yawned and slid off the bed and out of the room.

He waited until her footsteps were gone.

"Hmm…what should I do with you?" he said to himself, gazing at me like I was a double cheeseburger. "Dru won't let me eat you…wait, she said you knew 'secrets'…"

He was sitting next to me in the next instant. "Care to shed some light on the antics of the Slayer?"

This wasn't a rhetorical question, like the others I had answered, much to his annoyance. But I really couldn't speak then. On the show, the only boyfriend Buffy had that I actually thought was cute enough to date was Spike. He was the cutest, the funniest, the cutest, the coolest, and the cutest guy on the entire cast. And seeing him up close…well, he was even cuter.

Do not think Spike's cute. Do not think he's cute. He is not cute, not cute, not cute at all.

"A-actually, I just joined their group a day ago. I have no clue what demon they're trying to slay right now or what apocalypse they're trying to avert. The only evil guy I've seen so far is Angel."

Spike rolled his blue eyes. "Angel's a total wanker, a poof. He's not evil."

"Duh. I was being sarcastic. But that loser sure is scary. I mean, the sight of his hair could probably open the Hellmouth."

Spike smiled slowly. "I take it you don't like Peaches?"

I shook my head, Drusilla's braids coming undone. "Who could ever fall for that ponce? I'm surprised that Buffy would eventually sleep with the guy. No wonder she also had sex with Parker and Riley. I mean, after Angel, anybody else has got to seem like a better choice. By the way, what's a 'ponce?'"

"A ponce is Angel: a nancy-boy, a poof. And I couldn't agree with you more…did you say the Slayer slept with him?"

"Not yet," I replied, rejoicing in his shocked look. "When she does, you'll know. Angelus would be back."

"When that happens, the chit won't be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She'll be Slutty—"

"—the Vampire Layer. But that's really mean. Especially since you'll be one of the vampires she sleeps with. We'll see how much you'll call her that when she has you wrapped around her little finger."

Spike looked disgusted. "I kill Slayers, not sleep with them."

"Right. Whatever. Say, what's up with Angel's hair? I mean, can you say too much gel?"

***

Hours later, Spike and I were still in the midst of Angel-bashing.

"Say pet, you're not really so bad after all," Spike said, just getting over my 17th tale of Angel. I had just finished telling him about the episode "Amends" and he had burst into laughter every time I described Angel's anguish. "For one of the Slayer's bloody friends, you really aren't too bad."

I shrugged. "I never really fell into the idea of slaying demons. It's just…wrong. Back home, in my own universe or dimension or whatever, I…well, I sort of liked the whole idea of vampires."

He nodded. "Another dimension. Interesting. Are there vampires there, too?"

I shrugged again. "I don't know. Don't think so. But if there were, I'm sure they wouldn't just go poof with simple stake contact."

I was sure we were going to chat forever. I talked about my life back home, my interests and hobbies, everything. In turn, Spike the Big Bad without the anti-violence chip was telling me little tales of his adventures with Dru and sometimes Angel. How he murdered entire towns, pillaged villages, became the Scourge of Europe. About the good old days.

And I wasn't disgusted. That's what surprised him the most. I thought his tales of Angel drinking from priests and nuns hilarious.

There were other tales of places around the globe. Apparently, ever since he was turned in 1880, Spike had traveled throughout the world. Eventually caught a concept of 'cool' and dyed his light brown hair.

But now Drusilla was back from feeding and wanted to sleep. Thus our conversation came to a halt.

I was ushered into a small chamber with a small bed and dropped face-first under the covers. It had to be close to dawn. We had spent the entire night in conversation and I hadn't been tired. But now alone and faced with a bed, exhaustion sank in.

I was in La La Land before my head hit the pillow.

TBC