Uh. I skimmed the page again, trying to take in one word of what was written. I'd been up most of the day trying to learn the book. It was now an hour till sunset and I still hadn't finished the third chapter.
Varl's, similar to vampires, are blood-feasting creatures, although they are rather more partial to flavours of vamparic or demonic fluid of life.
What? Raise your hand if you understood a word of that? 'fluid of life'? I yawned widely. Angelus always says vampires need less sleep that humans, but I guess that doesn't apply to me. The words were dancing on the page and I was finding hard to concentrate on what they actually said. I re-read the sentence and frowned. So what it was actually trying to tell me was that Varl's drank vampire or demon blood? I think that's what it meant...
A noise from downstairs broke my concentration and I frowned, listening. Only minions. Angelus wasn't up yet, I was ok. I turned back to the book and focused once more.
Rather vulgar in appearance, the Varl beast has manifold ample tentacles which it uses to communicate with, as it's pronunciation of words is somewhat limited.
Huh. So... it talks by waving it's arms around?
I felt like hitting my head on the desk. Actually I felt like going to sleep but Angelus had said to learn the book so learn the book I would. So far I knew that they drank vampire blood, they talked with their tentacles, and they have a clan or a pack that works the same way as vampires; strongest = leader. The leader demands respect and service from the others in the pack and there are always fights breaking out because the beasts are not very civilised. For the fifth time that night I pondered why Angelus didn't just kill them. As far as I could see, they drank vampire blood, they're barbaric and savage, and they definitely don't seem the sort of creatures who would uphold their end of a bargain.
It is advisable not to speak unnecessarily in their presence as this will irritate them and they may become angered due to their lack of language capability. It is best to communicate through sign language or grunts and other noises.
Right. So to put that into normal speech it would be; don't talk to them because they'll attack you.
I studied the book for a further half an hour before I decided I'd better go and make sure the house was all ok for Angelus. You could never trust these bloody minions.
The door to Darla and Angelus' room opened as I walked past. Angelus stuck his head out. His hair was all over the place and he wasn't wearing a shirt. My eyes lingered for a moment before I snapped out of it.
"What are you doing, boy?" he frowned.
"I'm going downstairs."
He nodded and then shut the door. I paused for a second, a little confused, but shook it off. Whatever. If Angelus was going to ask pointless questions then never mind. He was happy with my answer, that was something to be glad about.
Angelus and I caught a cab since we didn't want to walk the whole way. I didn't say anything as he pushed me in first or as we set off, Just looked out the window glumly. I tried to remember all the etiquette I'd supposed to have learnt. The one thing that kept coming back to me was the idea of them drinking vampires blood. I had visions of myself strapped to a table and a large tentacley demon coming at me with it's large mouth stretched open to reveal sharp teeth......
Angelus clipped the back of my head sharply and snapped at me. "Wake up boy, we're getting out here."
I climbed out after him and looked around. We were in a busy street, what would a Varl Beast be doing around here? My Sire set off at a fast pace down the street and I followed, half running to keep up with him.
"Where are we going?"
"Don't ask questions," came the answer with a flash of amber eyes. I shut up and followed a couple of steps behind him for the rest of the way. Just as I was wondering how long it would take to get where we were going, he stopped. We were now in a deserted alley and he turned to me sharply.
"You will be silent unless spoken to. You will not fidget. You will do whatever I say, as soon as I say it, is that clear?" I nodded, resulting in a throbbing temple and a raised eyebrow.
"Yes Sire."
"Good. I mean it Will, you do what I tell you to do straight away." His tone was deadly serious and I nodded again, but speaking as well this time.
"Yes Sire."
He turned and walked away to where a large door was imbedded in the stone wall. He knocked on it then uttered some strange low growl. I stood just behind him and watched as the door opened to reveal another of those Varl Beasts.
I don't think I described them properly before. They're a kind of sickly white colour, like... um, the part of the plant that's underground and doesn't see the sun. They have about ten to twenty thick tentacles that just protrude from their circular bodies. The do have legs, but it's hard to see them because the tentacles get in the way. No arms. Two eyes, large and in the middle of a round head with loads of wrinkles. Disgusting.
The thing made some vulgar sounds and waved its tentacles around. Angelus did some waving of his own which would have made me laugh if it weren't for the circumstances. We were let in by the ugly demon and as I walked past it whacked me round the head with one of it's tentacles and made a noise that I supposed was meant to be a laugh. I rubbed my head, annoyed. There was slime on those tentacles, and believe me, slime is the worst thing to try and get out of your hair. Angelus wasn't going to like that.
We were in a sort of tunnel, going slowly downhill. It was dark and dank and I didn't like it. "Sire?" I whispered faintly and he spun around angrily, gripping the top of my arm painfully.
"What did I tell you outside, boy? Don't speak. Didn't you read that book at all?" he hissed, then let go of my arm and carried on walking.
I don't like being ignored. I need attention. I crave it like I crave blood. So as I followed my Sire dejectedly, I stared at the floor and tried to imagine I was back in Angelus' bed with him, curled up with his hand on the back of my neck. But I couldn't. Because that damn Varl was following me making squelching sound. I don't know how, as far as I knew they had no reason to squelch, but this one was.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour of trudging through increasingly slimy tunnels, we got to a large, large cave where there must've been about twenty of the things, with the biggest one sitting down in a throne like chair. I wondered if he squashed any of his tentacles in the process. Angelus went straight to the centre of the room where the throne was and sank down on one knee. He signalled for me to do the same and I copied him, unsure.
Angelus made yet more movements with his arms and gestured to me several times which I was not comfortable about. Finally the king or whoever he was replied and Angelus straightened up. He pulled me to my feet by my arm and hissed in my ear.
"Give him your arm. Don't mess up, boy, or you'll be sorry."
Give him my arm? Angelus walked forwards the couple of steps that were needed to bring us within reach of the King Varl and held out my arm. The beast took it and sniffed it as if I were a dodgy cheese. Then he sank his teeth into it and I fought the urge to scream. This wasn't like when Angelus bit me. This was painful! His teeth were so huge it felt like he was trying to gnaw my arm off! I looked desperately at Angelus, but he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were fixed on the ground. I let out a whimper as the Varl sank his teeth deeper and I saw Angelus' face flicker into full face for a few seconds. He was clearly fighting to control it. As I watched, Angelus stared to blur. The room started to blur. I felt limp and dizzy and where was the floor? It had gone... I no longer felt the Varl's teeth in my arm, just a mild throbbing sensation......
"That's enough!" A savage growl from my Sire as I was ripped away from the King brought me back to my senses. Unable to stand up, I sank to the floor limply and watched as Angelus said something to the Varl in that ridiculous language of theirs. The Varl stood up in what even I could tell was anger. Angelus didn't say anything, just turned, picked me up then strode out the way we came. I rested my head against his shoulder, feeling lost and unfocused at the blood loss. Once we were at the corner of the alley, β when did we get outside? I don't remember that β he set me down and looked at me.
"Are you ok Will?"
I nodded shakily. "Yes... Sire..." The movement made me suddenly very dizzy and I went to collapse again but he caught me.
"Stay with me, Will, stay with me," Angelus muttered as he fed me blood from his wrist. Sire's blood, Sire's blood... It's Sire's blood... I drank greedily, feeling the ground return beneath my feet. Eventually he drew his wrist away and I licked my lips hungrily.
"Thank you," I remembered to say, as he smiled.
"They would've killed you in there, but you didn't move. You did what I told you to do. That was good." I looked up, confused. "We can go back and kill them whenever you're ready."
"What?" I frowned in confusion, blinking a couple of times. "I thought you wanted toβ"
"That was before you messed it up the other night. Today was just to see how much you'd learnt." He shrugged. "We can kill them if you want, just not tonight."
I thought about it. "Actually, Sire, I'd rather just let them live. But if they come after us again, we'll kill them."
He chuckled slightly and ruffled my hair. "They won't Will, they won't."
I am SO sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I was suffering from major writers block (how professional does that sound?!) and just kept getting stuck. Anyway, I've decided not to continue this much longer. Maybe another three chapters? Hmm... I still have some ideas which I'd like to use but I also want to get round to writing an Angel/Spike fic that I have planned...
Reviews, anyone? Please?
