Devil in Disguise
Part 2.
Previously on BtVS…
Buffy turned towards the door also, to see what could scare one of Europe's most monstrous killers. But instead of seeing a monster worth being scared of, she saw Damian. Buffy turned back to Darla who was shaking her head and crying. Damian's voice floated through the store, calm, cool, and deadly; "Give her back to me now, Buffy!" the look on his face was evil, plain evil. "Who…what are you?" Buffy asked, Darla hugged her arm like a scared child. Damian gave an evil smile. "All those 'slayer senses' and you couldn't see a demon right under your cute nose?"
"What are you!" she screamed at him, fear engulfing her. Now that he has mention it, she could sense a demon, but it was different, stronger.
"Why, Buffy. I'm the Devil."
…Now the conclusion
"Darla, come!" Damian ordered. Darla didn't move. She seemed glued to the spot.
"NOW!" he screamed. The vampire jumped and let go of Buffy, slid off the table and slowly made her way towards Damian. Buffy had never been so scared before in her life. Except when Glory had Dawn, but what she felt now was different. She couldn't even move. This man, who she thought was her soul mate, probably didn't even have one. Buffy felt close to tears. Damian noticed this and smiled at her. "Don't worry, my dear Buffy, I still have a place for you in my heart."
"You don't have a heart." Darla said before Buffy could, and she was grateful. Damian moved so suddenly that no one knew what had happened till Darla slammed into Spike. "Did I tell you to speak," Damian yelled, but his voiced softened as he said, "my pet."
Buffy remembered Angel saying something about Darla being The Masters 'pet.' Was Damian taunting her?
Spike pulled himself up from the floor and started to give his hand to Darla, but pulled away suddenly as if he didn't want to touch her. Damian walked over to her and roughly pulled her up by the hair. Buffy then noticed that no one was able to move. Even if she wanted to, she seemed to be frozen. "What have you done to us?" Buffy demanded,
"Why can't we move?" Damian smiled again; it was a beautiful smile, but an evil one too. "Well, my love, I really want this to be quick; can't have you or your little friends trying to 'slay' me, now don't I?" And with that, he waved his hands around and a collar and chain appeared in his hand. "I will now bid you adieu, and leave you nice people to play…" He smiled again, "with yourselves." He seized Darla around her arm and proceeded to place the collar around her neck. Darla, of course, tried to get away, but was unsuccessful. When Damian had finished, he gave a little wave and blew a kiss at Buffy. Then clicking his fingers, he and Darla disappeared in a blaze of fire.
As soon as Damian had left, the Scooby Gang found it easier to move. "Well," Spike said, "That was defiantly different." Buffy just nodded. Willow asked the obvious question: "Do you think he is what he said he is?"
"We'll, I don't really know," responded Giles, "I supposed if demons and gods can exist, why not the Devil." But Buffy shock her head. "No. He is not the Devil, I have met many vamps claiming to be Lestat, but none were. This is just the same. Some strange demon thinks he's the Devil. He had a family for crying out loud. And a nice house. He's not the Devil."
"But I disagree." Giles said. "What if he is telling the truth, we are on the hell mouth. Anything can happen." Buffy just kept shaking her head, "No" was all she kept saying before she left for home.
"What's wrong with her?" Xander asked. Giles sighed, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was in denial."
A few weeks later…
Buffy sat at the dinning table with her mother and sister. Buffy had been feeling down ever since Damian's little show. She had not heard from him since then and she was thankful. But still she could not believe what had happened. Was he really the Devil?
"Buffy, honey. Is something wrong? You've been really quiet lately."
Buffy shrugged. What would she tell her mom? "Is it about your new beau? I haven't seen him for a while. Is everything alright with him?" It was as if she had read her mind.
"It didn't work out." Was all she could say.
"Oh, I'm so sorry sweetie. Well, there are many more fish in the sea."
Dawn looked dumbfounded. "You dumped him?"
"No!"
"Oh, so he dumped you."
"Can it, Dawn!"
Dawn shock her head, tutting at her sister. Buffy stood up and stormed out the front door. "I'm going patrolling."
The nights were still pleasant. Just like the night she and Damian had dinner, before he shared his little secret. Buffy wished for some rain, or hail. Anything to stop this night being like the night with him. She felt used, although Damian didn't really do anything against her. He seemed so sincere. So real. How could he be one of the monsters. She truly did hope he was just kidding, all a big joke. But how does that explain Darla? Or the fire? It didn't make sense. So some demons can make fire, but never disappear in it. And what about the collar he made appear out of thin air. But the strangest part was in fact Darla. She did, after all, die. Twice. If she was in hell as Buffy liked to believe, could there be a Satan? But isn't Satan's real naming Lucifer, not Damian.
That's when it suddenly hit her. Damian said he was named after The Oman movies, if that was so, he would be younger, a lot younger. And his secret middle name; Damian L. Black. Could the L stand for Lucifer? She was letting her mind run away with wild imaginations. She'll have to prove it. To herself and everyone else.
Buffy walked into The Magic Box, knowing all to well that the gang would be there. "Will, I need something to hide me from sight. I'm going back into Damian's house." Her friends looked at her strangely. "Are you sure you wanna do that?" asked Willow, "What if what he said is true and he is the Devil."
"Besides," Spike added, "it's not like the big bad doin' anything…bad."
Buffy explained that she had to know. "What if he hangs around and starts doing some major bad stuff. I wanna find his weaknesses. Find what makes him tick. So if the time comes and I have to destroy him. We wont have to be pouring over books while he 'condemns' others."
Two hours later Buffy was ready to go. "This," Willow said while handing Buffy a crystal tied to a thin leather strap, "is a Stealth Spell. It stops any demons from seeing you. But it only lasts an hour so only put it on when you get to Damian's." Buffy looked at the crystal. "Cool spell, Will. Where'd you get it?" Willow blushed. "It's an improvement to the spell Tara placed on us so that we couldn't see demons. I just changed it a bit and turned it around. Now demons can't see you.
"Spike will go with you as back-up and to make sure the crystal works. Wouldn't want you going in there if it didn't."
"Plus," Xander said, "If they see ya, we all know that Damian is a big fat liar. And a really good magician."
Buffy and Spike walked awhile in silence. Finally, when Buffy couldn't take it anymore, she asked; "What happened between you and Darla? You didn't want to touch her." Spike looked up at the sky and than said, "We didn't get along very well."
"How come?"
"She didn't like me."
Buffy didn't say anything for a while than; "What she do to you?" she watched Spike light a cigarette, inhale, than exhale. "She just didn't treat me nice, that's all." Buffy dropped the subject. She could tell Spike wasn't interested in reminiscing, besides they were drawing closer to Damian's small palace.
Damian had installed a high iron fence, but this didn't stop Buffy from gracefully jumping over. When she had safely landed she turned to Spike on the other side. "Don't come over unless you 100 sure I'm in danger. Got it!" Spike nodded. "Ok," she said putting the necklace around her neck. She felt a shiver go down her spine, but besides that she didn't feel any different. "Can you see me?" She asked Spike. Spike looked to the sound of her voice. "Nope, can't see ya. But remember I can hear you. You'll have to be really quiet." Buffy nodded than remembered that she was invisible and that he couldn't she her nod. " Ok, I'm going in." She turned and pushed her way through the bushes that surrounded the property.
"Good luck, love." Spike said to the night's air.
Buffy knew all to well that she could not go through the large front doors, so she walked around to the side of the house to the windows of the spare rooms. The windows were on the second storey so Buffy had to climb a tree to reach one. She forced it open and slid inside.
The room was not empty like Damian said it was, but seemed to be someone's room. Like Damian said, the room was set out like his own except this one belonged to a girl. It couldn't have been Satine's room; hers was on the other side of the hallway. It could have been Dawn's room. It had a teenage feel to it. Except this one was clean. Like no one was living in it. Maybe they were away.
Buffy carefully opened the bedroom door and when she felt that it was safe, quietly slipped into the hall. She was trying to remember which room belonged to who when she heard loud talking from behind one of the doors. She tip-toed to the door in question, remembering that this was Damian's father's office. Louis seemed to be arguing at someone loudly; like he didn't want to yell at them. The other person spoke too softly to be heard. But it seemed to be female. She was about to walk away when something Louis said caught her attention. "If Damian were more responsible, this would not have happen. If you didn't force me to retire early, I would still be Satan and none of this mess would have transpired." Buffy pressed her ear closer to the door, trying to hear the female's response. Just than, the floorboard beneath her creaked and Louis and his companion stopped talking.
She heard someone walked towards the door and she pushed herself against the wall adjacent to the door. Louis open the door with such a force, if she where near it she would have been knocked out. Buffy squeezed her eyes shut, but when no "What are you doing here?" was to be heard, Buffy opened her eyes.
Louis was at another door, opening it, he demanding it's occupant if they were eavesdropping. Buffy took that time to steal a look inside Louis's office.
The women in his office looked no older than Buffy. She was, what looked like to Buffy, an albino. Her skin was snow white. Her eyes were pale, pale blue and her hair was silver. Not gray, but Christmas tree tinsel silver. And she glowed. Buffy could see the faint dim on the wall behind her. She was sitting behind Louis's desk and was staring right back at Buffy. Can she see me? Buffy wondered. Buffy stopped to urge to wave to see if she would wave back. But just than Louis came back. "Wasn't the kids." He shrugged.
"Forget it Lucifer." Said the albino woman, "Damian will fix the problem and hopefully no one else will escape from Hell." Her voice was sing-song like and lovely to hear. She reminded Buffy of Satine, only whiter. She must not have seen me, thought Buffy, or she would have told… Buffy stopped. Did she just call Louis Lucifer? Buffy, full of questions, carefully edged away from the door.
She found her way to Damian's office and put her ear to the door. When she couldn't hear anything she slipped inside.
His office was just how she remembered it. The double doors to the right that Damian refused to show them were ajar. As she sneaked closer she could hear Damian's voice. She slid through the gap and as shocked at what she found.
The room was a torture room. Full of devices that she didn't want to know. Damian stood at a table holding a long bull whip. On the table, strapped to her stomach, and in a bloody mess, was Darla.
"Tell me how you escaped." Damian said in his soft voice. Darla only whimpered. Damian sighed and raised the whip. "I don't know!" Darla cried. Damian rolled his eye and cracked the whip on Darla's back. The bull whip looked improved with small jagged metal pieces imbedded up the tail. Darla screamed with pain. Pieces of flesh flicked to the walls and Buffy forced herself not to scream as lumpy, bloody bits of Darla landed on her arm and face.
"My patients grows thin, Darla. Tell me now and it will spare you a lot of pain." He stroked her hair and continued down her back. Darla hissed in pain and tried to arch her back, but the straps around her ankles and wrists and the collar on her neck attached to the table made it hard for her to move at all. Damian put his face close to hers and she gave a gasped as he gave her a long kiss on the check. "Tell me." He said sweetly, but than, in a sudden movement he cracked the whip, this time on her backside. The metal pieces ripped flesh and some of the material exposing bruised skin. Darla screamed again ending it in sobs. "I…don't…know….where it…is" Darla said between tears. Damian ran his hand over her bloodied back, than in frustration throw the whip aside, missing Buffy by an inch. He ran his fingers through his hair, forgetting about the blood on his hand. He grabbed Darla's hair and forced her to look at him, the collar around her neck strained and started to chock her. He spat at her between his teeth. "I will find out where that hole is, and you will pay dearly with your hide when I do!" Then throwing her head down, he stormed out the room to his father's office.
Darla continued to sob, and Buffy felt sorry for her. She hated Darla, but no one deserved torture. Then Buffy had an idea, dumb as it seemed, but an idea. Carefully she closed the torture room door and removed the necklace. She walked over to Darla and gently touched an unmarked part of her shoulder. Darla was a bruised and bloody mess. Even her face was covered in cuts and bruises. She nearly screamed when she saw Buffy and she quickly covered Darla's mouth to muffle her scream. "Come on," Buffy said as she tried to untie her, "we're getting out of here."
Darla had trouble walking and Buffy suspected that she had a broken leg, or two. Damian's yells from Lucifer's office could be heard throughout the house. It must be a normal thing, because no other family member came to investigate. Buffy was just near the unknown girl's room when Lucifer's office door open and the albino woman exited. Darla's eyes widen than she looked to the ground. They were caught now. But the albino woman raised an eyebrow at them and asked in her sing-song voice "How will you get her out the window let alone down a tree. She can barely walk without your support?" Buffy stared at her dumbly. If the albino woman wanted to kill them, she could of; Buffy would have just continued staring. Then before she realized it there was a bright flash of light and she, Spike and Darla was out on the street in front of the magic shop.
With the help of Spike, Buffy was able to get Darla into the shop. Darla had passed out again and it was difficult to keep a grip onto her as she was slick with blood. Giles turned white when he saw them. "Good Lord! What happened?" he asked when Buffy and Spike had laid Darla on the ground. "The crystal worked, they didn't see me. Except for the albino women, I think? I stole Darla back. She might be able to help us in this. But so far, what I heard, I think Damian was telling the truth." Buffy looked down at her blood soaked hands. As a slayer, she has never seen so much blood. "I need a shower." She announced. "I'll be back in an hour." And she left before anyone can object.
Buffy was grateful that no one was home. Her mom was at the gallery and Dawn was staying over at a friend's. This meant Buffy could clean herself up without explaining all the blood to her mom. She undressed in the bathroom and wrapped herself in a towel, she than walked downstairs to the basement to wash the clothes. A few minutes later she was standing in the shower watching all the blood go down the drain.
After she had washed her hair and scrubbed off all of the blood till she was certain she was clean, she sat on her bed wearing only the towel. Her mind raced with questions. Darla's break-out was so easy. And what was with the albino. Was she human? If she did see Buffy, why didn't she say anything nothing to Louis? Or was it Lucifer? But if she was human, how did she transport them out like that? And above all, why?
"God, what goin' on?" she said to her self.
"Trust me, God won't do much," came a voice from behind her. She hadn't bothered turned on the light, and the room was in complete darkness. The only light came from the street light outside her window. She recognized the voice and slowly turned around to face Damian.
"How'd you get in here?" she asked bluntly, knowing all to well that he was probably here the whole time, waiting for her to come home.
Damian smiled; he was engulfed by darkness, except his face. By some trick of the light, his face was lit up by the street light. But his smile was still recognizable, still beautiful. He looked like a painting of an angel. To perfect to be real. But if he was the devil, wasn't the devil an angel?
"I came for what is mine" he said quietly.
He walked over to Buffy and knelt in front of her. Buffy gripped the towel tighter. Her heart was beating faster and faster. She watched, unable to move, as he caressed her face, running his hand down her neck and across her collar bone.
"Give me what is mine." He whispered in her ear. "And it will all go smoothly." His face close to hers, lips almost touching.
"Was that a threat?" Buffy asked shakily.
Damian kissed her, long and passionately. Buffy felt her heart stop and she kissed him back, not knowing why. All she knew was that she wanted to. Needed to.
The rest of the night was a blur, a beautiful blur. She felt like she had taken a drug, and it had been wonderful, but she couldn't remember what had happened. She sat up in her bed and discovered that she had nothing on. She never slept without her Pjs on. Then she remembered Damian. He had come over last night wanting Darla. She wondered why he just didn't go to the magic shop.
She had dressed and walked down stairs to the kitchen. Her mom was cooking breakfast, pancakes it smelt like, and talking to someone. Buffy turned into the kitchen and was stunned to see Damian sitting on the kitchen bench, talking to Joyce. "Morning, honey. Your mother says that you have been naughty; lying about us to her," Damian said with a sing-song voice. He reminded her of the albino woman. "Are you ashamed of us, sweetie?"
Buffy didn't know what to say. No, she knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to know why he was here and what was he doing. But that would cause problems. Her mom would want to know what she meant and Buffy wasn't sure how Damian would react. Damian gave her a dazzling smile as Buffy reached out a hand and grabbed Damian by his shirt. "Can I talk to you." She said as she led him out to the hall.
Damian grinned at Buffy as she turned to face him. His face held an 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' expression. Buffy was starting to hate his smug looks. "What are you doing here?" She demanded of him. Damian pouted. He looked gorgeous with that look of sweetness. But she contained herself and stood her ground. "What?"
Damian smiled again, "Don't you remember last night? I do. It was magical!" He was teasing her. What did he mean by last night? Buffy wondered.
"What are you doing in my house? You can't just show up uninvited." She snapped back at him. Damian's smile vanished like he had hit a switch.
"You snuck into my home last night. Call it a get back."
"If you want Darla back, go to the magic shop and get her. You wanted what was yours, right?"
Damian leaned into her and whispered, "That's not what I came for." He grabbed the back of Buffy's hair and pulled her into a rough kiss. He pressed his lips to her so hard, Buffy was sure that he meant to bruise her. Then he disappeared in fiery flames.
"So, he was in you kitchen this morning! Talking to your mom! Did he stay all night, did he?" Willow asked Buffy as they walked through the graveyard that night. Buffy had told Willow everything, leaving nothing out. She was afraid that something had happened. Something that both she, and her best friend, didn't want to say out loud.
"I don't remember. But I assume that he must of. I can't believe that I had a total laps of memory." What did he do to me?
"This is weird, really weird. Maybe you should tell Giles or something." Suggested Willow. Buffy shock her head.
"And tell him what? The devil came to me last night? People used to be burned at the stake for things like that!"
Willow shrugged. "What do you supposed he did the whole night?"
Buffy stared at her friend. "What do you think he did!" She snapped, than shock her head again. "I'm sorry, Will. I'm scared, that's all. I don't wanna think what he did. What if he…" Buffy trailed of the sentence. She didn't want to say it, but they both thought it.
"I don't know, Buffy. I still think you should go tell Gile…" Willow's was cut off by a long scream. Both Buffy and Willow froze, than bolted towards the sound.
"God, I hope it's not another vamp back from the dead!" Buffy cried.
It wasn't. It had been a girl; one Buffy remembered vaguely going to school with. She had once been pretty, auburn hair, olive complexion, but now was a bloodied mess on the dirt. The dead girl was slumped against a tombstone like she was sleeping. Only the fact that she was covered from head to toe in blood, gave away that she wasn't. She looked as she had been beaten to death or slashed with claws; Buffy couldn't tell.
"Oh!" Was all Willow could say as she knelt down next to the girl. Buffy looked around to see if whatever had done this was still in the vicinity.
"Will, I think whatever did this is still here."
Willow slowly stood up, "where?"
Buffy didn't answer, she know that something was close. She walked towards whatever had the power to kill something this quick. Willow followed close behind.
It wasn't long before they heard laughing. It seemed to be coming from every direction. "Will, I think we are surrounded."
In front of them appeared a girl, no older than Dawn. She was dressed in a school uniform, one Buffy had never seen before. She was beautiful, everything about her was perfect. She looked as if she was molded out of marble, like some artist had sculptured her out of all the beautiful women. Except she was covered in blood.
"I take it you killed that girl." Buffy said to her. Willow stood behind her looking scared.
The girl smiled with those luscious, full lips and put her hands on her hips. The gesture showed that she was voluptuous, 'fat in the right places' as her mother would say. She had green eyes and her dark brown, almost black hair that came down to her waist was in a tattered mess thanks to the blood. Just because she was covered in the red liquid didn't change the fact that she was beautiful. Just made her look scary.
"Your friend is staring." She said in a sing-song voice. She said it the way Brittnay Murphy talked in 'Don't Say a Word'. She had a hint of madness to her voice, like Drusilla.
"Sssorry". Willow stumbled out.
"Who are you?" Buffy demanded.
"Don't you mean, 'Who are we'?" This came from a boy behind them. He was somewhere in his early teens. He was the exact replica of Damian. Only younger.
Anther boy appeared from the left, he was the oldest of the three. He also looked like Damian and what Buffy assumed was his brother. In fact, they all looked like Damian with hints of something that made them different.
"I'm sensing a theme here." Buffy whispered to Willow.
"Yeah, the Damian theme." She whispered shakily.
They were surrounded. The girl seemed to be the only one covered in blood. The two boys were fairly clean, except for some dirt stains here and there. It looked like they chased the dead girl and let their sister kill her.
"You killed that girl." Buffy asked, more of a statement than a question.
"Ah Huh!" the bloodied girl nodded. She looked innocent, even with the blood.
"Who, what are you?" Buffy asked again. Willow shock behind her. And it wasn't from the cold. Even Buffy was a bit weary of these three.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Said the boy behind them. The third boy only smiled. Buffy wondered if he could talk.
"Yeah, I wanna know. Do you lot have names."
The bloodied girl pouted, she fricking pouted. "If we tell you, you'll laugh. And if you laugh, we'll get upset and you'll end up like that girl." She nodded in the direction of the dead girl.
"We wont laugh, wont we Buffy?" Willow said, her voice wasn't as shaky, her nerves must have calmed down. The situation seemed to be safe, but Buffy couldn't help wondering if they were playing with them.
"Yeah, promise."
The group closed around them. There were only three kids, but Buffy had learned from experience that size doesn't count. If that girl could kill someone with speed like that, Buffy wouldn't have a chance with all three of them.
"Bonzai." Said the boy behind, he had now close enough to touch Willow's face.
"And that's my brother Ed, he don't talk much."
Bonzai, Ed. What the..?
"So, are you Shenzi?" Buffy asked. Were they kidding?
Shenzi nodded. "Don't ask."
Buffy could see why they thought that they would laugh. They were named after the hyenas in The Lion King. But they were a little too old to be named after that movie. But then again Damian claimed to be named after The Oman.
Buffy had to ask. "You're not related to a Damian L. Black by any chance are ya?" Though the answer seemed pretty obvious. The three looked uncomfortable.
'How do you know him?" Shenzi snapped. She seemed a bit nervous at his name. Was she afraid of him too?
"Do you know him?" Buffy asked again, she was not going to answer their questions until they answered hers.
"Yes," Shenzi whispered. But Bonzai looked furious. He stormed over to his sister and back-handed her so hard that she slammed into a tombstone, cracking it on impact.
"Shut up!" He screamed at her. Shenzi got up with an evil smile on her face.
"He's our father." She said; her eyes were glued onto Bonzai. He in returned lunged on her and began to pummeled her with his fists. Ed rolled his eyes and walked over to his younger siblings in hopes to break it up.
Buffy couldn't believe it; Damian had children. How old was the guy? She than wondered if the girl's room that she had seen before was Shenzi's? Was the three rooms that Damian had said were spares, his children' rooms? Where had they been? They all were wearing a uniform. Had they been at school of some sort? Like, Buffy thought, a school for demons. What next?
Buffy tugged at Willow's sleeve and they slowly edged away from the three. When she felt that they had put enough distance did they brake into a run. The three must have noticed and Buffy could hear them coming after them. She griped Willow's hand and pulled her along with her. She dared a glance over her shoulder to see how far they were and was shock to see that they were at their heels with Shenzi in the lead.
Willow screamed as Shenzi reached out and grabbed her hair. Buffy yanked Willow's arm and Shenzi fell back, taking some of Willow's hair with her. Willow screamed again with pain but Buffy kept running. They reached The Magic Box's street. The three were fast and Buffy felt that she would tire and the kids would catch up. As they drew closer to the magic shop, the three started to slow down till only Shenzi was chasing them. Buffy pushed open the door and pulled Willow inside. She than turned around to wait till Shenzi came inside, but she didn't. She had stopped at the door. Buffy watched as she paced the front like a caged animal than giving up, she kicked her fingers and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Um…What was that?" Giles asked.
… To be continued.