Title: Between Rest and Sleep (4?)
Author: Lady Jesca
Email: Dawn and the characters surrounding Buffy the Vampire Slayer do not belong to me. They belong to the mind of Joss Whedon. The vampire Edric is my character, though, as is many of the supporting characters of this story. If there is any confusion about what belongs to whom, email me and I'll clarify…:) But I'm not making any dough so please don't try to take my bread!
Rating:
Spoilers: BtVS through Season 5. AtS through Season 2.
Summary:
Author's Notes: The timeline on this story forks into difference after season five of Buffy. That is the last of the canon stuff. But some notes so everyone knows where I am in this: Buffy died at the end of Season five and never came back. Willow did not resurrect the Slayer and another wasn't chosen until Faith died. Faith is dead as well, although how may come out in the story. As far as if Spike will get a soul or Angel a son, I don't know. The focus of the story is really on Dawn and doesn't take place in either Sunnydale or LA.
Also, it is circa 2008 (I'm going off the assumption Buffy and gang graduated class of '99 then 2001 was the end of Season 5 when Dawn was 15—if I have the math wrong, let me know…;)). Dawn is about twenty-two years old now. So she's of age for nookie and everything else…;) Her personality is very different from how we know her to be, and why will eventually come out in story, but just so I don't get emails, I do know that her personality is quite non-canon.
This story will most likely be full of angst and darkness. I'm trying to capture the romantic despair of vampires as well as bring something different to the Dawn character.
Please email me if you want to put this or any of my stories on your website. I never say no, but I like knowing which sites are supporting my writing. Thanks!
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"I'm not going to kill her. I'm going to keep her."
It echoed in her mind for a moment before she realized what it meant. He was going to keep her. Edric's smile was dangerous as he gazed into her eyes for a moment. She held his gaze, faintly wondering what he was trying to see.
"Seems fitting," he said, coming closer. His face was mere inches from hers. "Until now you have belonged to death, probably for many years."
"I'm not afraid of it," she said, her eyes flashing. "I'm not afraid of you."
"No. I believe you are not. You do not fear what I will do to you." He ran his hand over her face. The cold of his hand chilled her as much as the look in his eye did. Though she didn't fear this vampire, she could see he intended to give her reason to. "You do not fear what I will do to you, nor do you fear what my companions will do to you. No hunter walks into a vampire masque with a slayer if they are afraid for their lives."
"I didn't come with her."
"Details that do not matter. My point is still the same." His hand trailed down the front of her dress and to her waist. Grabbing her wrist painfully, he moved behind her, much like he had her the night before, but instead of holding her neck stationary, he slipped the other arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. His strength was evident, so she didn't give him the satisfaction of struggle.
Without him in her line of sight, she saw that vampires were parting in front of them. When the sea of amber eyes scattered, she saw humans. The humans who had come to this party apparently had found the violence a little too real for their liking. They all huddled against the wall, their painted faces now a picture of horror.
"Pretenders," Edric said softly, his mouth not far from her ear. "They've come with the idea that they would receive death and that it would be sensual and spiritual. Now that death has shown its face, they cower."
Dawn wanted to tell him to let them go, but she wasn't sure if he'd see that as a sign that the humans meant something to her and then kill them just to spite her. She hoped that they would be let go, but as each moment passed, doubt obscured that hope. The room was full of hungry vampires feeding off of the fear that even she could sense emanating from the huddled masses.
"A moment ago you applauded the chance to be made," Edric said, addressing the others. "What did you come here for, if not to be food or mates? Or are any of you here to be a hero? Do we have any more hunters among you?" He moved forward and Dawn was pushed along with him. She no longer looked at the other vampires, her attention was taken by scene before her.
Whimpering coupled with the scraping of bodies as they tried to scoot back away from the vampire hoard reached Dawn's ears. She also heard the sniffling of the truly weak, those crying for their souls, wishing they had never come.
"No. There are no hunters here. No heroes."
The vampires nearest to Edric laughed and one kicked the dead body of the slayer, drawing Dawn's attention to her. A cold, hard hand forced her face and attention back to the humans.
"What would you have me do with them, child?"
"What do I care?" Dawn asked. She didn't like the way he called her child. It was almost as if he had determined she was no longer a hunter, as he called her before, and was now some bastardized version of a daughter. Perhaps also it foretold what was to come. Maybe he did not mean child as much as he meant childe.
"Why else would you be here if you did not? I saw you as you headed out the door. I was not going to stop you. But you heard the slayer and ended up beside her, fighting to the death, and for what?" He paused. "What exactly were you hoping to accomplish."
Dawn didn't answer that. There was no answer that would not come back to haunt her and she didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of knowing her mind.
"Are none of these humans worth your pity? You would not beg for their lives?"
"They knew what they were getting into when they came here," she said, almost addressing the group of humans more than him. "They are damaged. Something inside them made them come here to beg for some blood-sucking fiend to make them a likeminded fiend or to kill them outright. They come here looking for some sort of romance or salvation. They look for a way to die and then they cry when it's come to them." She looked at them with disgust. "This is what happens when you read too much Anita Blake or Anne Rice, you start to think that you could find love with the dead."
She could sense the surprise by not only the humans, many who had started to cry in earnest, but from the vampires nearest to her.
"So you believe their fate should be death?" Edric's voice was hard to read. She could not tell if she surprised him or not.
"No. I think you should let them go. They are not sport. They are not worth your time."
Edric chuckled in her ear. "You are amusing. What makes you think we care about sport?"
"I know you care about sport, or else you wouldn't have let me go in the alley. I couldn't have stopped you then."
"Anymore than you can now," he added. "You are right. I do like a little sport. You are also correct that sniveling humans huddled in a group do not appeal to me. I would let them go." Dawn's struggled to keep a straight face. She had almost thought she had played the disgust too far.
She watched as the vampires moved away from the exit. The humans looked unsure for a moment, but a few survivalists started to go towards the door.
"Of course," he said, louder, "I have what I came for." Dawn's breath hitched. "And I think that we can find a few vampires who aren't as picky about the sport of it all."
Vampires converged on the group and screams echoed in the ballroom. Her head was snapped back and she watched as the vampires closest to the humans fed, while others pushed their way forward, hoping to get a fresh kill, or even a scrap of someone else's kill. She struggled against the vampire that held her, trying to gain some advantage. For once she wished she had a bit of her sister's strength. Perhaps the blood of so many would not be on her this night.
When Edric finally let Dawn go, she slid down to the ground and sat, unable to take her eyes off of the blood bath and horror before her. She took the time, as she sat on the floor of the ballroom to imprint the faces of each person in her mind. These are the lives she would be redeeming herself for. These are the lives she knew she'd be thinking of when she killed vampires from this night forward. If she ever got a chance to hunt again.
Edric moved away from her, almost mocking her with how helpless he now found her. At first he seemed to have been right, because she just sat there, staring at the dead, until her eyes came to rest on April. The deadness of April's staring eyes pulled from Dawn the haze of defeat and slowly she began to assess her situation.
Clumped together on the far side of the ballroom were the bulk of the vampires. They were all giddy from feeding. Dawn eyed them from the corner of her eye, trying to disguise that she was looking at them at all. She didn't want to bring any attention to herself, nor did she want to alert Edric that she was more aware of her surroundings now.
Closer to her was a smaller group of vampires. The elite, she thought to herself with some contempt. Now that they were grouped together, she could clearly see that this was a collection of some of the older vampires still in survival. She took a moment to study them. The keen intelligence in their eyes, their smooth voices, and the air of self-assuredness that surrounded them marked them as different from the vampires on the other side of the ballroom. The celebrating vampires were like children and these quiet and refined vampires were much more like dignitaries. With a start, she realized they probably were just that. Vampires lords from different parts of the world.
"Her invitation had your name on it." The words floated to her and she strained to hear. She eyed the vampire that was being addressed. Marcus, she presumed.
"Well, I've never seen her." He seemed to take the other vampires statement as a challenge, and his eyes flared, going slightly golden.
"Obviously, she's resourceful," Edric said, calming both vampires as everyone agreed. "This one cannot walk the streets again. She's connected somehow to the Great Slayer, and that in and of itself should be enough to concern us all." Slight nods accompanied his statement. Dawn's shoulders slumped.
Damn, she thought to herself as she let her gaze slide back to April. It was hard to be mad at the girl while she lay broken and drained on the floor, but it was also hard for Dawn not to feel real regret at the end of her ability to hunt in the open. These older vampires now new her. They'd be able to recognize her, if she could get free of Edric, and going after them would be suicide. The reason for her deception when she hunted was to make up for the lack of slayer abilities. She was going to have to rethink her strategy.
But first she had to worry about getting out of here alive.
With care, Dawn slid one of her booted feet so that it was under her, giving her the ability to spring up. One hand came down to the floor and was pressed flat against the slick ballroom wood. Her other hand did the same. She had seconds, she figured, to get to the door, and if all else failed, she still had one stake in between her breasts.
"Luther," Edric said, elevating his voice so that it reverberated off of the walls. Without the music, the ballroom was relatively quiet. A vampire came to the bidding of Edric from the larger, rowdier group.
"Yes, Prince," he said reverently.
"Get your crew to clean up this mess. We cannot have it left looking like a crime scene."
"Of course," he said. Dawn knew that was her cue. It sounded as if Edric was wrapping things up. If she didn't try to get out now, she would loose her opportunity to. Her muscles tensed and she gave herself a moment to center herself.
Springing up onto her feet, Dawn suddenly sprinted towards the exit. Vampires stared at her in surprise, and some started coming towards her, but thankfully, she had left most of them back, giving herself a good head start. Reaching between her breasts, she pulled out her remaining stake and lunged it into a vampire that got close enough to her heals to reach for her.
Killing the vampire slowed her down slightly and she could hear others coming for her. Edric's shout that she should be kept alive could be heard above the stampede.
The exit loomed just out of reach, it seemed, and she pushed herself to go faster. Her lungs started to burn with the lack of air from the corset and the run. But she was determined to make it. As she neared the door, a figure stepped inside. It was the large vampire that was checking invitations outside and she swore, sliding to an unstable stop before him.
A breath was all she could get out before he lunged her way. Sidestepping, Dawn slammed her boot into the vamps face. She pushed off of him to get away and waited for him to come again. This time she was able to duck under his arms and bring her stake upwards, into the heart. Dust sprayed her, partially obscuring her view. But when it cleared she saw with dismay that her exit was now blocked by Edric himself.
"You prove to be more and more amusing by the moment," he said as he blue eyes burned into hers. "You will be a fun pet to break."
Her chin came up and her eyes flashed with ire. Taking a few steps towards him, stake still in hand, she must have looked pretty threatening, because a few vampires looked like they were going to interfere. Dawn stopped and eyed them, just as Edric's hand came up to stop them. When she realized that she was going to be allowed to get close to him, she took the few remaining steps, her eyes on his.
He seemed curious as to what she would do, and she found that this curiosity might help save her ass in the future. She stopped in front of him and stood there. His eyebrows came up, in question and she rewarded him by spitting in his face. Shock and mild annoyance crossed his features as a gloved hand came up to wipe the moisture off of his face.
"I am delighted," he said, his tone not matching his words, "that you will make this a challenge." He nodded to someone behind her and Dawn's arm was seized. She struggled and turned to stake the vampire that held her, but a steely cold hand gripped her wrist. The grip was tight and she looked at the vampire who held her. It was Marcus, and she tried to pull her arm away from her, but she couldn't budge it. The strength of this vampire was considerable, as she realized when his already tight hold started to tighten. Her eyes winced in pain, but she pushed her lips together to stifle any cry. A throb could be felt in her wrist as blood was being stopped from going to her hand. The appendage numbed from the lack of blood and she felt her fingers start to go slack. The clatter of her wooden stake was loud in her ears.
"She will not be so difficult for you, Edric," he said silkily, using the vampire's given name. She was pretty sure most vampires used his title, so that his name was used told her that Marcus was closer to Edric than some. "You will have little trouble bringing her to her knees." With that statement, his grip on her wrist tightened and Dawn couldn't help the gasp at the pain. Her whole arm started to throb and pain shot up her arm into her shoulder and back again. She looked at Marcus, finding her eyes blurring slightly.
"I will kill you," she promised as the pain increased and a tear slid down her cheek. She hated that he made her cry in front of the other vampires; in front of Edric. But he merely smiled and twisted her arm upwards, causing pain to erupt from her shoulder. Combined with the continued pain at her writs, Dawn felt her vision go double and her knees buckled. She hit the wood floor with a harsh thump, now kneeling before Edric and the others.
"See?" Marcus said, releasing some of his pressure, but not letting go.
"Dear Marcus," Edric said, his tone seeming almost sad, "you don't break a pet by making her kneel to you out of pain." He stepped forward and took Dawn's arm from the other vampire's grasp, and suddenly feeling rushed into her. Edric let go of her and she sprang back to her feet, backing away until she hit another vampire in the chest. She turned to see that she was fully enclosed in a circle of vampires. She stepped forward, away from the vampire, and rubbed feeling back in her arm.
"If you use pain to push them down, the moment you let up on the pain, they will spring back up, as she did."
"Then don't let up on the pain," Marcus said, his voice harsher than before.
"How unimaginative," Edric said.
"So how, Prince Edric, would you break her?" a vampire dressed in crushed velvet and ruffles asked.
"Well, Geoffrey," he said as he tilted his head at Dawn. "You make her want to kneel to you. You break her spirit and wait until she offers herself to you. Then you remind her of where she came, and how she is now completely yours."
A bark of laughter escaped Dawn. "You will never get that satisfaction. I'd kill myself first," she bit out.
Edric chuckled. "We'll see." With that walked towards her, stopping only after he had pushed her back against he rock hard chest of the vampire she ran into earlier. "You will escort me out to my limo. If you struggle or make a scene in front of the humans outside, I will let Marcus have you for a week." Dawn's eyes flickered over Edric's right shoulder, where Marcus stood, his look dangerous. "I don't think he's very happy about the earlier rebuke, and I don't think he'd be gentle." Dawn's eyes came back to Edric. "Do we understand each other?"
Dawn took a moment to answer. She wasn't afraid of Marcus, but why the hell should she endure a week of pain and torture if she didn't have to, she thought. Besides it wasn't as if he were asking her to kill anyone. He only wanted her to walk outside. After a moment, she nodded.
"Good," he said, giving her a genuine smile. "Now get dressed."
To her left, a vampire held out her discarded clothes. Dawn did the best she could to arrange the hoop skirt and gold skirt around her so that it looked ok. The gold was ripped in places, but with a little fussing you could hardly tell. In the dark of the night, the rips wouldn't be seen.
Pushing her hair under her headdress, Dawn put herself back together, minus all of her stakes. The only weapon she had on her was the dagger in her boot, and it was far too valuable to lose, so she left it were it was. When she was done she looked to Edric and he nodded in satisfaction.
"Take off the mask."
"Why?" Dawn said, preferring the anonymity of the mask.
"Take off the mask," he said again, his voice punctuating each word. Shaking her head a little at the ridiculousness of these details, Dawn undid the mask and threw it at his feet.
"Satisfied?"
"For now," Edirc said, a small smile creeping onto his lips. He walked towards her, holding his arm out to her, like a perfect gentleman. Steeling herself, she slipped her arm through his, and held herself tall. Her eyes flickered over to the dead bodies being gathered up to her right and a frown pulled at her face. She was pulled back from her thoughts as Edric started walking forward, taking her with him.
The night air was cool and sharp against her warm cheeks. Edric stopped at the top of the steps, and she was grateful. Working to focus her eyes, Dawn looked down to the limousine that was parked at the bottom of the steps. It was long and sleek, black with a gray stripe along its side. A driver, probably a vampire, stood at the open door, waiting for Edric.
Dawn descended the stairs with Edric, at his lead. Glancing around to the people swarming to get a better look, she saw Garret staring straight at her. Even from the distance they were at, she could see clearly his hope turning into hatred as she gave him a blank look. His slayer was dead. Now he really was like Giles, she thought.
Dawn's eyes opened when she heard the click of the lock on her door. Closing them again, to appear asleep, she waited for someone to enter, but no one did. Slower this time, she opened her eyes and peered around. No one was in the room with her.
Slowly, she slipped the covers away from her and sat up in the large four-poster bed. For three days now her door had been unlocked only when food was being brought to her. There was no visit from Edric, no harassment from vampires. Those who worked in the estate of Edirc von Lasiter were quite human, at least the ones who brought her food.
Coming to Edric's estate was a lot like stepping into Bram Stoker's wet dream. The castle, and truly it was a castle, was every bit the stone structure and wrought iron gates that she would have imagined. Gargoyles hung off of the edges of the rooftops, peering down with eerie, jeweled eyes. The grounds were full of well kept gardens and sculptures depicting angels and saints, something that was both ironic and predictable to Dawn. Cobblestone made up the driveway of the sweeping structure and she felt like a fool for being in a car when they had approached. It was almost as if the car should have been a horse drawn carriage.
From what she saw of the inside, it mirrored the outside. She was quickly separated from Edric and pushed through large double doors into a great hall before being escorted up the stone steps leading to the higher levels. She went up two flights of stairs before coming to a long hallway. Pictures of people that looked vaguely familiar lined the walls. Many of them were paintings on parchment, although a few looked modern. There was little time to look at the pictures, though, as she was deposited inside her room and the door promptly locked. She had been here ever since.
Her own room housed more furniture than the whole apartment she lived in before. There was a couch with stuffed wing-backed chairs set up at one end of the room while her huge bed was at the other. There was a fireplace with more chairs beside it and rugs thrown around to give some color and protection from the stone floor. The bathroom, she was happy to find, was quite modern, despite not having a shower. Still, a tub would have to do. It was comfortable, but cold, as one would expect a castle to be. There was a fireplace in her room, but she had run out of wood already and the chill of the European winter was taking its toll on her now.
She had also been surprised that first night when her food had come to her, accompanied by the belongings she had locked into the safe at her hotel. A strangely inappropriate thought of reporting the hotel for allowing a vampire to steal her things floated around in her mind as she watched them place the bag on one of the chairs before setting up her food on a table beside her bedroom door. Her surprise grew even more, though, when she found her weapons still in the bag. Either Edric did not think of her as a threat, or he didn't intend to let her out of the room, she had thought to herself. Until now, she had surmised it was the latter.
Coming to sit straight up, Dawn stuffed her feet into her boots and quickly adjusted her jeans over them. She'd been sleeping in her clothes for the past few days, in case something happened. She slept bathed in sun during the day, opening the large windows that faced the morning sun, and stayed awake listening to the sounds of the house by night. When he didn't come to her the first night, Dawn was glad. The second night she was annoyed, and the third night she'd grown restless. What was the point of keeping a pet if you didn't bring them out to play once in a while, she thought bitterly. Not that she wanted to be his pet.
Going to the vanity, Dawn selected a brush and pulled it through her brown mane. It seemed strange for her to have her old hair color back. She hadn't sported this color in seven years. When her hair shown from the brushing, she pulled it back at the nap of her neck so that it wouldn't be in her way and put it under her leather jacket. She'd learned that trick when a particularly playful vampire had captured her hair and used it to control her.
She had no idea how long they traveled to get to where they were. She knew that the limo ride took forever. The silence had been uncomfortable and she sat in the car being scrutinized by Edric and Marcus. Occasionally, they would converse, but for the most part, they stared at her. She alternated between feeling like a Happy Meal and like a pin-up. It put her on edge to not know what was going to happen. So Dawn stared out the window and watched the city become rolling hills and farms.
A jet ride followed up the limousine. Marcus was left behind at the car, and Dawn felt a whole lot more comfortable than she felt she had a right to. It wasn't that Edric was going to be a wonderful experience, but she got the feeling that the real pain would have been given by Marcus.
"You look relieved," Edric said as they walked away from Marcus. Dawn just shrugged. "Pain comes in many different flavors," he said, his voice soft as he guessed at her thoughts.
The inside of the jet was a surprise to Dawn. It was luxurious, containing only a few seats, all window seats, that looked more like recliners than plane furniture. The cab seemed smaller, and she realized that through the door in the back was a bedroom for Edric. When the door was opened so that his luggage could be brought back there, she noted the same white leather and satin decorations that adorned the sitting area. Small splashes of color accented the white, and Dawn was pleasantly surprised not to find any black lace or gaudy red. The only dark color in the whole cab was the black of the windows that were painted black.
Edric buckled into a seat facing hers while the crew took off, but shortly after entering the air and having a night cap, he stood to leave.
"Goodnight," he said simply. Dawn's eyebrows rose.
"And what am I supposed to do?" she asked, moody from lack of sleep and all of the earlier exertion.
Edric stood there, looking down at her until a languid smile crawled across his face. "Are you asking to share my bed?" he asked, his voice a bit deeper than before.
"No." Dawn was firm, leaving no room for interpreting anything other than a deep desire to not spend the night with him.
"Hm," Edric answered. "If you change your mind, my man will let you in," he said, indicating another vampire with the nod of his head.
"That won't happen," Dawn said, her voice dark with displeasure.
"Goodnight," he said, amused this time as he quickly disappeared into the back. The vampire he had indicated was "his man" took up post just in front of the door and he vamped out. Dawn gripped the arm rests of the chair she sat in and quickly looked around for a weapon. There was nothing sharp, pointy, and wooden in the vampires layer in the sky. Go figure, she thought sourly.
After a few moments she realized the vampire was content just to stare at her and he made no move to come near her, even as his amber eyes never left her. Exhaustion tugged at Dawn but she could not sleep with a vampire fully equipped and ready to drain her dry staring right at her. So she spent the night dozing off and coming awake with sharp snaps of her head. Each time, the vampire grinned at her, enjoying his own brand of torture.
The jet landed, where, she wasn't sure. None of the crew felt it necessary to give her the pertinent information about the place they landed. Thank you for flying Vamp Airlines. You have reached your final destination of Spooksville. If you can see through six coats of industrial strength black paint, you'd see the Spooksville International Airport, where the time here is always midnight. Please watch your step so as not to step on the tales of any of the werewolves on your flight. Keep your possessions close to you until we come to a complete stop. Please continue to observe the No Drinking Blood sign until well inside the Terminal. Then you can drain her dry.
Dawn smiled at her own internal monologue, making the vampire that was staring at her narrow his eyes. He probably thought she was smiling at him, but she didn't care. She was too tired to care.
Edric emerged as the sun was starting to go down. He took a quick look at Dawn's half closed eyes and the stiff way she held herself to stay awake. Glancing at his man, and seeing the vamped out face, he shook his head and quirked a smile.
"Leave her be," he said lightly as he poured something thick and red from a pitcher. Dawn watched Edric, no longer concerned for the vampire who put his human visage back on at Edric's words. After taking a drink from his glass, Edric offered one to her.
"What is it?" she asked suspiciously.
"Tomato juice," he answered, amused that she was looking at the pitcher as if it were full of blood.
Warily, Dawn stood up and went for the pitcher. She smelled it, the smell of the tomato juice making her stomach rumble. With a weak swallow, she grabbed a glass and poured herself some juice. Edric smiled and went to his seat. A newspaper was brought to him.
"So what shall I call you?" Edric asked her, startling her in mid-drink. He had never asked her name before, she realized.
"Where are we?" she asked, trying to look through the black glass, unsuccessfully.
"France."
"Then you can call me Renee."
He smiled and took another drink of his juice, his eyes tracking her as she found her seat. The paper was opened and he started scanning it.
"You don't look like a Renee."
"And what does a Renee look like?" she shot back, trying hard to fight with herself to ration the juice. She had no idea when she'd eat next. But this was not V8. This was fresh made tomato juice, and it was delicious.
"It doesn't go with Summers," he said, his soft voice floating over the paper to her. Dawn choked on her tomato juice, nearly spitting out the bright red substance all over his pristine white carpet.
"What's that supposed to mean," she said, trying to cover.
The paper folded, revealing Edric's predatory smile. "You know Buffy Summers. How?"
"Buffy Summers is dead," she said, her voice flat and unemotional.
"Yes, she is. How did you know her?"
Dawn's eyes narrowed at how interested this fiend was in her sister. She remembered that he'd called her the Great Slayer. The memory of that vampire saying Edric was interested in making Buffy a slayer also flitted around in her head.
"Not for all the tea in China," she said, sitting back and abandoning her tomato juice.
Edric made an amused sound in his throat. "Breakfast?"
Dawn opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, but the door from the front of the jet opened and French toast and syrup could be smelled. Sausage patties and fluffy omelets accompanied the steaming toast and she just nodded, her mouth snapping shut. She noticed there was enough for two people, and she watched in mild fascination as a plate was set up in front of him. Then her plate was set up.
"You're eating?" she asked.
"I enjoy food."
"But you don't need it," Dawn said, confused.
"When you are a man of means you can have more than what you need. You can have whatever you want as well," he said, his eyes straying from her face for a moment before he settled into his breakfast.
Although she was starving, she couldn't let that just hang in the air. "Not everything," she challenged. Although it wasn't said loudly, she knew he could hear her. But his paper was in the air again and she was left to enjoy her breakfast. It was delicious and she felt a twinge of guilt at accepting his food. But dying because she refused his food would be idiotic after all that she'd done to stay alive.
After breakfast, when the sun was gone, they had another car ride until they reached his castle, and ever since Dawn had been sitting in her room, going slowly insane. Now was her chance to get out, though, she thought as she made her way to the door, grabbing a stake from her bag as she went. The stake went into the back of her pants before she opened the door.
With more caution than she used to approach the door, Dawn stepped out of it. A quick glance told her that no one was near to her room. Taking a left to go back the way she came up, Dawn slowly made her way to the staircase. A few of the portraits caught her attention, but she didn't spare them much more than a glance before she reached the grand staircase.
Her room was on the third floor, so she traveled down two flights of stairs to get to the first floor. It was buzzing with activity. Vampires and humans alike hurried past the staircase busy with their own errands and duties to perform. No one even spared a look at her.
Since killing his staff would likely bring her a swift punishment, Dawn wisely decided that if they weren't bothering her, she wouldn't bother them. Like bees, she thought to herself. And as she passed by a vampire, rushing towards the kitchen, she watched as he went by, not even glancing her way. Satisfied, Dawn let her shoulders ease a little and she started to look around.
At the bottom of the stairs was a wait room of sorts. It was decorated beautifully with various greenery and dark rich maroon tones accented with gold fixtures. Rugs reflected the color choices and provided a measure of quiet as humans and vampires alike strode through this area wearing heals and dress shoes. More artwork adorned the walls, showing scenes of dark mysterious forests. One captured the haunted forest so well that Dawn knew she could stare at it for hours. It seemed to speak to her, and she took a few steps towards it.
"Renee?" she heard.
The sound of her newest name snapped her out of her trance and she glanced at a vampire dressed in what looked to be an old-world tuxedo.
"The master is waiting for you," he announced, his voice nasal and grating. Her nose wrinkled in distaste.
"He'll keep," she said lightly, continuing to glance around her, getting her bearings.
Long cold fingers closed around her arm and Dawn stiffened up.
"If you want to keep your appendages," she said, looking at him with the hatred she felt for all vampires, "remove them from my arm."
Though he was a vampire, equipped with all that vampires were supposed to acquire, Dawn thought she saw fear pass through his eyes. Apparently Benson here was a kept vampire and not used to the harshness of the world. Dawn was willing to acquaint him and she started a countdown in her mind for when she should strike. When she reached two, the vampire released her.
"This way," he said, trying to cover the moment. After taking a second to straighten her jacket, Dawn followed the vampire through large double doors. It opened up into a wonderfully spacious dining room. The walls were painted maroon, giving the room a darkness that seemed appropriate. Stained glass windows were lit up from outside, giving off strange hues as the light passed through the colored glass. A large, three tiered, crystal chandelier hovered over a dark mahogany table. The sheer decadence almost made Dawn sigh.
Noticing that Alfred was waiting for her, she rolled her eyes and followed him through the hallway to another set of double doors. This opened into a large indoor garden. Above her was a ceiling of glass, allowing her to see the stars. The garden to each side of her was kept back from the cobblestone pathway that she now walked until she emerged into a round stone and marble room. Large white pillars ringed the circular structure and a stone ceiling depicted an exquisite fresco that at first looked to be a replica of The Last Judgment from the Sistine Chapel. But as she stared a little more, the positions nagged at her until she realized she was staring at a mural of a fantastic vampire orgy, where blood and sex were being traded at alarming rates. Her eyes widened and her eyes averted down, falling on a throne that sat directly across from the entrance, where Edric sat watching her.
She stared brazenly at him for a moment, trying to show him that his ceiling pornography didn't bother her. After she was sure she made her point, and because he was grinning at her like a madman, she pulled her eyes from him and finished her assessment of the room.
A few steps from the doorway were stairs that circled around the whole room, giving the center of the floor a sunken look. She descended the three stairs and looked around as she came more towards the center. Around the pillars were plenty of dark spots where others could hide, and this bothered her. But as she caught a glimpse of someone behind the pillars, she stiffened and waited as she saw a servant deliver a try of fruits to a table beside Edric's throne, and then disappear. She realized that the dark spaces were to hide servants, not dangers, and her shoulders eased.
She also noted a smaller throne of sorts. A place that sat empty. If Edric was north then the seat was due east. A smaller table, set up similarly to Edric's sat beside the smaller throne and she wondered at it briefly. The vampire that escorted her in went directly to Edric, bowed, and took a standing place beside him, drawing Dawn's eyes to finally rest on the elder vampire. He didn't seem to be annoyed by the way she put off addressing him, but she hardly cared.
"What do you think?"
"What do you care?" she bantered lightly. The servant vampire stiffened. "I don't think Jeeves likes me much," she said with a conspiratorial tone to Edric and he chuckled and dismissed the stiff vampire. He made eye contact with Dawn as he passed by her, and she stared back, waiting until he left to address Edric again.
"So what is this place?"
"My study," he said. He seemed to take stock of the room and smiled, clearly happy here.
"What do you study?" she asked, shifting from one foot to the other.
"People." His eyebrow raised. "You."
"Swell," she deadpanned and he grinned. "This mine?" she pointed to the mini replica of his throne. He nodded and gestured for her to sit. She went to the chair and sat, the hard stone not at all comfortable. She thought about taking off her jacket and sitting on that, but there didn't seem to be heat in his study, so she kept her jacket on. Instead she sat back and brought her knees up. Her eyes found his again as she took a grape from the fruit platter on her table and munched it.
"So this is how you spend your time?" she asked, already bored. "Staring at humans?" She made a pained face. "I'm starting to miss Marcus."
A quiet laugh escaped Edric and he shook his head as he smiled at her. She couldn't help but give him a slight smile at his honest emotion. "So why am I here, Eddy?" His smile left him at her nickname.
"Edric," he said, his tone broking no defiance. Her smile was genuine now.
"So sorry. So I am here because…" she trailed off, hoping he'd finish the sentence.
"You caught my attention."
"Well, Mr. Obvious, I guess I meant to ask was, now what?"
A deep sigh at her insolence passed through him and she propped one leg over the arm of her stone chair, still trying to find a descent pose that wouldn't kill her tailbone. She grabbed an apple slice and bit into it. It was slightly tangy, treated with lemon juice so as not to turn brown. Nice, she thought, letting the crispy fruit echo crunching noises in her head.
"Now we find out if you fit into my eternity."
"Ah, well, I could already answer that for you, if you want to save some time."
With a flick of his wrist a servant she hadn't even known was there came from around behind her chair and traveled to his. Damn, she thought, sitting up straighter so she could look behind her. A door, discreetly hidden in the darkened area, was nested just behind her seat. Nifty, she thought with a grimace.
Her eyes went to Edric at the sound of liquid pouring. From the consistency and color, she had no doubt that this was not tomato juice. Raise the goblet of blood to his lips, Edric drank, his eyes not leaving hers.
Although it bothered her that he was drinking blood in front of her, she didn't want to let him know she was put off. So she stared back at him, watching as he fed.
"You are like something from out of an Anne Rice novel," she said, eyeing him.
His goblet lowered and he smiled, his lips a faint ruddy color. "Yes, I suppose I am. But then again, so are you," he smiled mischievously.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are like one of her mortals who are so drawn to the idea of an immortal life that you feel an attraction to vampires and secretly hope, although you will deny it always, that one will remake you and let you see what it is like to be like us."
"That isn't what I want," she said, her voice a whisper that echoed in the strange room. She suddenly didn't like this place at all, and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair again. She didn't want to be a vampire, she wanted to kill them all.
"Ah, but then I already said you would deny it. What is the point of further doing so except to show me that I am right?"
Her eyes narrowed a little, but she said nothing, knowing that doing so was playing into his game. He laughed a little, the sound of it dark and unsettling. She shook her head and let her gaze go upwards as her head came to rest on the back of her chair. The vampire orgy loomed over her and she couldn't help but let her eyes roam the painted mural.
"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" she heard from her left ear and she jumped. She hadn't even seen him stand, much less heard him come around her chair. She shifted so that her face wasn't so close to his and after a moment of watching him look at the mural, she glanced up again. "Full of the mysteries of death and life after that death," he said, his voice low and reverent. "You cannot deny what's in you forever."
"I can deny what's not inside me." Her voice was as soft as if she were in a library. Suddenly it seemed appropriate, given his own soft tones and his proximity.
"It isn't just you. It's in all humans. The need to know what happens after this life is over. And a need to prologue this life from being over. What I can offer you is a sure life after death. Who else but a vampire can offer you a sure thing?" She opened her mouth to speak and he straightened. "Wait." He made his way back to his throne and sat down. "Let me guess. God?" His tone was mocking and it pulled at the tension in Dawn's shoulders.
Narrowing her eyes and she stood up, finally giving up on finding comfort in the chair. She walked to the center of the room and crossed her arms in front of her. "I don't believe in God."
"Really," he said, his voice making him sound almost scandalized.
"Yeah. So if there is a higher power out there I'm screwed and if there isn't, I'm screwed. Either way." She looked unconcerned about the damned if you do and don't situation.
Edric frowned a moment. "Explain."
"Well, if there is a God, then I'm not going to Heaven because I don't believe. And if there isn't a God, I'm not going to Heaven because there is no Heaven."
Edric stared at her for a moment and then started to shake his head. A small smile touched his lips but he didn't look like he was going to share what made him smile. Dawn frowned, finding herself too concerned with what he was thinking.
"What?"
"You. You are highly amusing," he said, making her eyes darken and narrow.
"How so?"
"Child, you believe in God, you're just angry with him."
"I assure you Prince Know-it-all, I do not believe in God." She seemed to fade into her own thoughts at that, and he just seemed to watch her.
"A true non-believer rarely worries about the retribution of a god they are certain does not exist. And you didn't indicate that you weren't certain of a god, you said pretty clearly that you do not believe in God. Not that you didn't believe in a god, but in God himself as if there were a God to believe in, which you choose not to do. So in that you acknowledge there is a god to believe in and that you choose not to. Which would indicate to me that you are upset at him. I might be splitting hairs here, but am I wrong?"
Dawn tried desperately to keep her face schooled. He was sitting there so smug-like and she knew that nothing she could say would answer him like the outburst of anger that threatened to surface. It may have been the restless sleep of the past few days, or the situation she found herself in now that she was the unwilling guest of a master vampire, but she suddenly felt emotion roil up inside her, and she didn't like it. Instead of giving into her royal fit, she raised her chin in the air and turned, deciding she'd seen enough of the castle for today. And although she tried not to think of his words as she closed her bedroom door behind her, she suddenly wished she could feel the weight of her sister's cross on her chest.