"The Books of Aurelius" The history of a Vampire: Two
The Downfall of a Slayer
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She was drenched to the bone by the perpetual English rain. Hungry from walking all day without any food and feeling miserable and alone. She took a turn and ended up on the docks lining the Thames.
The fog was coming up and she was hoping for a dry place to sleep in one of the warehouses. Then her vamp senses started to tingle.
Of course! Even Victorian England has fang boys.
"Alright let's get this over with." Buffy said in the direction her senses told her the vampire was. He showed up through the fog. He was tall and broad and wore a high hat and long coat that ended just above his knees. His long hair was in a tail at the nape of his neck. He stopped beyond her circle of attack and regarded her with a scrupulous eye.
Somehow his stance and silence commanded respect from Buffy.
Charles du Pinot had been a vampire for exactly 400 years. Never had he seen a woman with this amount of confidence before. Not to mention her very strange attire. "You are indeed an exotic creature but I think I'm more exotic." He said while he vamped out and expected her to be too scared and an easy kill.
"Sorry to disappoint you, mister! Been there, seen that. So try something else, buddy." The vampire had a soft baritone voice and an educated English accent that reminded her of Giles. She felt a short pang of homesickness. But then all of her attention went to the vampire in front of her. He handled himself like a man that knew things that few other men know.
In a flash the vampire was in her face trying to slap her. She ducked and punched him in the stomach before stepping out of his personal space. The fight had begun.
They traded blows and kicks throughout the docks. Spinning around and jumping over crates, gaining and losing momentum with equal vigor.
She fights with the strength of a slayer. Charles contemplated during the fight. But he knew for a fact that the current slayer was still alive because she was Master Nest's current pet project. Besides, this woman was too old to be a slayer. She is inventive and strong. Not like the slayers he had observed. They all fought like the Council wanted them to fight. That's why they became so easy to defeat.
He is trying to figure me out. Testing my moves and counter strikes. Buffy knew that now was the time to do something original, if she wanted to live. Because she was getting tired and would not keep this up for long. Think Buffster! What would you normally do and then do the opposite. She tried to focus on her surroundings while keeping her adversary at bay. It was a scenery like in those cheesy 'Jake the Ripper' movies. A foggy dockside lined by warehouses and crates scattered all around.
There was one thing she would try to avoid and that was the river. The drowning and swim team experiences had left her slightly hydrophobic. But that was a good way to make an escape. So when the chance presented itself she didn't hesitated but dove in the raging Thames trying to keep as quiet as possible to avoid detection.
Charles stood looking at her jump and watched her disappear under the water surface. He laughed at her inventive way to escape him. She had been a very good opponent. He had enjoyed fighting her and knew that he wanted her. Something told him she would not drown. Although not many a Londoner knew how to swim. Her dive in the Thames had him convinced that she could. "I will find you and when I do, you will be mine!"
Buffy heard his haunting laugh as he left the docks. After disappearing under the surface she swam with all her might towards the docks and reappeared as quietly as possible. She held onto a dock pole for dear life waiting for the vampire to leave.
When the sun came up she climbed out of the water. And started walking again. She felt very alone and missed Dawn. Not having eaten in over 24 hours and having spent so long in the water, Buffy was coming to the end of her strength. Right then she needed a place to recuperate like she needed oxygen.
She had walked for most of the morning when she rounded a corner and came to a square. It had a church on one side and big buildings on another. Sanctuary! Entering the church Buffy stayed in the shadows looking for a chapel to lay down in for a few hours. The monk that found her was endeared by this strange looking young woman asleep underneath the Madonna statue. But she could not stay here. The mass would start in an hour and the Wyndams would not care to look at such a display of filth and poorness. "Child you must awake. It is time for you to leave." Buffy found herself leaving the dream of the picnic with Dawn and Spike in the park. "No mom, I just need to sleep another 10 minutes. I'll get to class in time I promise." The monk laughed at her strange words and Buffy sat up in a flash. This was not her mother. Looking around she started to remember her surroundings. And felt a pang, for the time with Dawn and Spike had been a dream. "You must leave, child." The monk tried again. "There is a poorhouse just across the square. I am sure they can help you there."
Feeling hardly refreshed by her few hours of sleep, Buffy crossed the square. She opened the door to the poorhouse and was attacked on all fronts. Her nose smelt the decay of too many sick people and too little bathwater. Her eyes saw the hollow eyes on five year olds accepting their fates in live. Her ears picked up the mindless chattering of 20 women. Her skin felt the warmth and her body wanted nothing more than to sleep and eat preferably in that order. A large woman with a smile approached her. "Whot can I do for ya, luv?" she asked and Buffy smiled thinking of the only other person she ever heard using that endearment.
Oh, Spike, what I wouldn't give to have your annoying ass with me right now. "Please, I need a place to sleep for the night." She asked feeling that begging for food was a little too much embracement for one day. "That's whot the poorhouse is for, pet. But there are some rules." She started chattering while she put one of her huge arms around Buffy guiding her inside the building towards a courtyard. "You work for 8 hours a day doing the laundry for food and boarding. No whoring, no drinking and no indecent relations with the men. Is that understood?"
"Yes madam," was all Buffy could utter after hearing the woman command her like a sergeant in battle.
"Right then! Oh and everybody does a chore a day, 'couse that keeps the boogie man away." She said with a big smile showing a definite lack of teeth. "You can have this bed and are expected at breakfast tomorrow morning 7 o'clock. Night!"
Buffy stood looking down at her bed for the evening. It was a makeshift straw mattress with a woolen blanket thrown over it and a lumpy pillow made from unwashed sheep wool.
She woke up from the sounds of the other occupants of the ward. She followed them to breakfast which consisted of a watery porridge. "Hi I'm Buffy" She said to the man next to her.
"grmphf" He answered.
"I'm sorry," she insisted. "Could you tell me where the laundry room is? I have to work there this morning?" The man just looked at her like she was some sort of alien. Then she heard giggling behind her and looked over her shoulder to the next row of tables. A group of young girls was sitting together laughing and pointing at her.
"Have you heard her speak? She toalks funny." One of the girls actually had some guts and looked at her square in the eye and asked: "Did you swallow a hot potato? Or are you just noath right in the head?" Buffy just couldn't resist and stuck her tongue out at her then turned around and got up to leave the room.
She worked the grinders of the laundry for 8 hours before dinner which was a lump of bread, a stack of green vegetables and if they were lucky some cheese. Then she would collapse on her bed and dream of Sunnydale. She spent two weeks there. Her days were filled with thinking about Dawn. Hoping she was ok, hoping that the scoobies would be taking care of her. Her nights were spent missing strong cool arms around her. Her body ached to be loved and worshipped. She missed his whispered nothings, she missed his hands and the way they used to play her. She missed Spike. Most importantly she felt her strength slipping day by day. She knew she should be looking for a way out of there but she didn't have the energy. The first morning she coughed she could dismiss it as a straw in her throat. The morning she coughed up blood was the morning she became terrified of dying in that hellhole.
That evening she said goodbye to all of her reluctant friends and took to the streets. Her plan was simple. Use the last bit of strength she had left and try and find the council. Their headquarters should be in the old city.
The Downfall of a Slayer
===========================================================================
She was drenched to the bone by the perpetual English rain. Hungry from walking all day without any food and feeling miserable and alone. She took a turn and ended up on the docks lining the Thames.
The fog was coming up and she was hoping for a dry place to sleep in one of the warehouses. Then her vamp senses started to tingle.
Of course! Even Victorian England has fang boys.
"Alright let's get this over with." Buffy said in the direction her senses told her the vampire was. He showed up through the fog. He was tall and broad and wore a high hat and long coat that ended just above his knees. His long hair was in a tail at the nape of his neck. He stopped beyond her circle of attack and regarded her with a scrupulous eye.
Somehow his stance and silence commanded respect from Buffy.
Charles du Pinot had been a vampire for exactly 400 years. Never had he seen a woman with this amount of confidence before. Not to mention her very strange attire. "You are indeed an exotic creature but I think I'm more exotic." He said while he vamped out and expected her to be too scared and an easy kill.
"Sorry to disappoint you, mister! Been there, seen that. So try something else, buddy." The vampire had a soft baritone voice and an educated English accent that reminded her of Giles. She felt a short pang of homesickness. But then all of her attention went to the vampire in front of her. He handled himself like a man that knew things that few other men know.
In a flash the vampire was in her face trying to slap her. She ducked and punched him in the stomach before stepping out of his personal space. The fight had begun.
They traded blows and kicks throughout the docks. Spinning around and jumping over crates, gaining and losing momentum with equal vigor.
She fights with the strength of a slayer. Charles contemplated during the fight. But he knew for a fact that the current slayer was still alive because she was Master Nest's current pet project. Besides, this woman was too old to be a slayer. She is inventive and strong. Not like the slayers he had observed. They all fought like the Council wanted them to fight. That's why they became so easy to defeat.
He is trying to figure me out. Testing my moves and counter strikes. Buffy knew that now was the time to do something original, if she wanted to live. Because she was getting tired and would not keep this up for long. Think Buffster! What would you normally do and then do the opposite. She tried to focus on her surroundings while keeping her adversary at bay. It was a scenery like in those cheesy 'Jake the Ripper' movies. A foggy dockside lined by warehouses and crates scattered all around.
There was one thing she would try to avoid and that was the river. The drowning and swim team experiences had left her slightly hydrophobic. But that was a good way to make an escape. So when the chance presented itself she didn't hesitated but dove in the raging Thames trying to keep as quiet as possible to avoid detection.
Charles stood looking at her jump and watched her disappear under the water surface. He laughed at her inventive way to escape him. She had been a very good opponent. He had enjoyed fighting her and knew that he wanted her. Something told him she would not drown. Although not many a Londoner knew how to swim. Her dive in the Thames had him convinced that she could. "I will find you and when I do, you will be mine!"
Buffy heard his haunting laugh as he left the docks. After disappearing under the surface she swam with all her might towards the docks and reappeared as quietly as possible. She held onto a dock pole for dear life waiting for the vampire to leave.
When the sun came up she climbed out of the water. And started walking again. She felt very alone and missed Dawn. Not having eaten in over 24 hours and having spent so long in the water, Buffy was coming to the end of her strength. Right then she needed a place to recuperate like she needed oxygen.
She had walked for most of the morning when she rounded a corner and came to a square. It had a church on one side and big buildings on another. Sanctuary! Entering the church Buffy stayed in the shadows looking for a chapel to lay down in for a few hours. The monk that found her was endeared by this strange looking young woman asleep underneath the Madonna statue. But she could not stay here. The mass would start in an hour and the Wyndams would not care to look at such a display of filth and poorness. "Child you must awake. It is time for you to leave." Buffy found herself leaving the dream of the picnic with Dawn and Spike in the park. "No mom, I just need to sleep another 10 minutes. I'll get to class in time I promise." The monk laughed at her strange words and Buffy sat up in a flash. This was not her mother. Looking around she started to remember her surroundings. And felt a pang, for the time with Dawn and Spike had been a dream. "You must leave, child." The monk tried again. "There is a poorhouse just across the square. I am sure they can help you there."
Feeling hardly refreshed by her few hours of sleep, Buffy crossed the square. She opened the door to the poorhouse and was attacked on all fronts. Her nose smelt the decay of too many sick people and too little bathwater. Her eyes saw the hollow eyes on five year olds accepting their fates in live. Her ears picked up the mindless chattering of 20 women. Her skin felt the warmth and her body wanted nothing more than to sleep and eat preferably in that order. A large woman with a smile approached her. "Whot can I do for ya, luv?" she asked and Buffy smiled thinking of the only other person she ever heard using that endearment.
Oh, Spike, what I wouldn't give to have your annoying ass with me right now. "Please, I need a place to sleep for the night." She asked feeling that begging for food was a little too much embracement for one day. "That's whot the poorhouse is for, pet. But there are some rules." She started chattering while she put one of her huge arms around Buffy guiding her inside the building towards a courtyard. "You work for 8 hours a day doing the laundry for food and boarding. No whoring, no drinking and no indecent relations with the men. Is that understood?"
"Yes madam," was all Buffy could utter after hearing the woman command her like a sergeant in battle.
"Right then! Oh and everybody does a chore a day, 'couse that keeps the boogie man away." She said with a big smile showing a definite lack of teeth. "You can have this bed and are expected at breakfast tomorrow morning 7 o'clock. Night!"
Buffy stood looking down at her bed for the evening. It was a makeshift straw mattress with a woolen blanket thrown over it and a lumpy pillow made from unwashed sheep wool.
She woke up from the sounds of the other occupants of the ward. She followed them to breakfast which consisted of a watery porridge. "Hi I'm Buffy" She said to the man next to her.
"grmphf" He answered.
"I'm sorry," she insisted. "Could you tell me where the laundry room is? I have to work there this morning?" The man just looked at her like she was some sort of alien. Then she heard giggling behind her and looked over her shoulder to the next row of tables. A group of young girls was sitting together laughing and pointing at her.
"Have you heard her speak? She toalks funny." One of the girls actually had some guts and looked at her square in the eye and asked: "Did you swallow a hot potato? Or are you just noath right in the head?" Buffy just couldn't resist and stuck her tongue out at her then turned around and got up to leave the room.
She worked the grinders of the laundry for 8 hours before dinner which was a lump of bread, a stack of green vegetables and if they were lucky some cheese. Then she would collapse on her bed and dream of Sunnydale. She spent two weeks there. Her days were filled with thinking about Dawn. Hoping she was ok, hoping that the scoobies would be taking care of her. Her nights were spent missing strong cool arms around her. Her body ached to be loved and worshipped. She missed his whispered nothings, she missed his hands and the way they used to play her. She missed Spike. Most importantly she felt her strength slipping day by day. She knew she should be looking for a way out of there but she didn't have the energy. The first morning she coughed she could dismiss it as a straw in her throat. The morning she coughed up blood was the morning she became terrified of dying in that hellhole.
That evening she said goodbye to all of her reluctant friends and took to the streets. Her plan was simple. Use the last bit of strength she had left and try and find the council. Their headquarters should be in the old city.