The Vampire as Metaphor...Book III of the (Semi) Complete Works of William Soames Walthrop...
PG-13
Summary: A lost work of one William Soames Walthrop (...aka Spike) as it was delivered at one of Cicely (see my Cicelyverse notes at the included link) Addams' house parties, shortly before Will's demise. See the reference to it in "Drusilla".
Archived (soon) at the Buffy Rebecca verse, In Book III of the (Semi) Complete Works of William Walthrop...(direct link will be.. buffyrebecca/ )
Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...
Contributions to the recovery of the lost works of England's third worst poet are always welcomed...
Part VII...
The somewhat crowded, though pleasant enough dining room of the Germania Hotel, about 8:30 pm...
"So...Mr. Smackles..." Peter eyed his dinner companion across the small table. Elizabeth, contentedly sitting next to him on her own insistence, scanning the bill of fare...They gotta be kiddin', forty-five cents for a chicken dinner?
"What is your profession, I presume here in New York, sir...?"
Willie eyeing the rather annoyingly inquisitive Brit. Thought these types maintained a crusty self-reserve...And kept outta of one's business...
"Me? I'm a kinda facilitatorI get things done." Smackles frowned slightly, eyeing Elizabeth.
"Cousin Willie's a middleman. He smooths things for businessmen and such to get what they need done quick..."
Oh...? Peter nodding wisely. "Then you are a political operator?" "I got my connections downtown..." Willie nodding back.
Boss Tweed and all that...Peter noted.
"I know Tweed and his boys. You don't get things done here if you don't..." a shrug.
"While combining a love of old artifacts with your more practical daily grind..." Peter smiled. "I saw the way you handled Miss Springs' book."
"Mana wide interests, that's me..." Smackles eyed the younger man coolly.
"So we have something in common. Given the practical nature of my own profession..."
Yeah...Willie nodded dryly.
"But cousin Willie got started on his luva books late in life." Elizabeth cut in... "Hows 'bout you, Peter...You been a poet a long time?"
"All my life, I'd say."
"You must gotta a big pilea work to show off...Regular Walt Whitman, eh...?" she beamed.
"Nowhere near that..." he shook his head. Then smiled...Whitman fan, eh?...a grin at her.
She gave a genuine smile. "Read 'Leaves of Grass' straight through."
"As did I. A remarkable work...Wish I had hopes of ever coming close."
Smackles frowned a bit. No time to be connectin' with the guy you're gonna feed to our enemies, girl. Fortunately, the moment faded almost immediately...
"Well, you gotta read some of yours to us. Or me, anyway. I'll take the beef steak...If it's real beef." she turned to the server who'd just arrived. The girl frowning…
"This is the Germania, miss...It's real beef."
This week...she did not say.
"At these prices, it better be..." Adding requests for bread, a bottle of beer, and coffee she turned from the waitress who moved on to Willie's order...
And saw that something...Someone...Had distracted her adjacent companion's attention...
A rather delicate, if lovely-looking and well-dressed brunette someone...Who, standing in the busy dining room, looking round, seemed a bit lost.
An annoyingly lovely...And tall someone...Elizabeth frowned. Slightly nudging Peter... "Sorry, I need the sugar?..." Yes, here...He passed it without looking at her.
And without taking eyes from the new arrival...
Who...Unfortunately...Appeared to be very much human...
[Ah...Brunette and overwhelming him...Cicely noted with satisfaction...]
"Pardon me...?" the young woman moved to their table.
"Are you the people leaving for California tomorrow on the morning train?" she asked gently...
"Yes...Well, the two of us are..." Peter smiled at her, rising.
"How'd you know we were bound for California...?" Elizabeth gave her a narrow look. Willie looking attentively at her as well.
"The young lady at the desk told me when I registered a few moments ago...I was hoping to find someone heading that way as I'm traveling there alone myself..."
Oh...? A cold tone...
"We are heading to California tomorrow, Miss...?" Peter tried a tad more warmth. Noting immediately the mourning outfit...
"Marie...Marie DeRussel..." Marie offered a hand which he gently took a moment. "Peter Potter..."
"Elizabeth Springs..." The Slayer grabbed their unsolicited guest's other hand. And vigorously pumped it a few times.
"...And my cousin, Willie Smackles..." Willie gave a curt nod. Nope, human fer sure...Elizabeth's quick look to him saying.
"I'm so sorry to intrude on you..."
"Not at all...We've just begun ordering..." Peter waved. "Please sit with us..."
Well...A grateful, lovely smile... "If you don't mind...?"
"Yeah..." Elizabeth frowned. "Hava seat..."
"Thank you..."
"I see...You're in mourning?" Peter hesitated.
"My father passed away in New York a few days ago...While here on business."
"I'm so sorry."
"Yeah...A real shame..." Elizabeth eyed their guest with a carefully appraising glance. "I gotta start wearin' mourning for my uncle Merrick (Merritt?...Peter corrects. Yeah...she frowns.) tomorrow myself...What your pa die of?"
Consumption, I'd guess from lookin' at you...she did not say...
…
To Miss Springs' growing impatience, young Dr. Potter devoted himself to their shy, grieving guest during dinner...
Hey, I just lost my unk...Far as you know, Petey...she frowned silently at him as he made another of several mildly humorous remarks on the city and their adventures that day to Miss De Russel, bringing a gentle smile to her beautiful face. Laced with a bit of concern to hear that such a kind gentleman had nearly met a dreadful fate even on emerging from his vessel...
"Yeah..." Miss Springs took the opening. "I saved his life...Right, Peter?" she looked at him...
And hows bout a little gratitude, boy?
Indeed...he nodded. "And then we tried to find the culprit but whoever had dropped the crate...Or thrown it...Was long gone."
"Thrown?" Marie stared. "At you? Surely not?..."
"I would think it an accident myself...As no one knows me here. But the dockside detective seemed to think the crate could only have been thrown, though from where...Impossible to determine."
"Crazy place the docks. Ya get all kinds there. But it probably was just an accident." Elizabeth noted.
"Well...It's wonderful that you were spared serious injury, Dr. Potter." Miss De Russel beamed gently at him.
"Nothing at all..." Peter smiled.
Willie watching the scene carefully as Elizabeth gave a narrow glance at Peter. She now a bit nervous for the success of her plans for the night. Awaiting the almost inevitable offer that would spell ruin...
If only the bitch had been a vampiress. Such a simple...Wooden...Solution at hand...
"So we can all leave together tomorrow. That should be very pleasant..." Potter noted.
Lovely...Elizabeth thought. Except there's only one way you and me are leaving tomorrow, Brit boy...
With rings on our fingers...
"That's very kind of you, Dr. Potter." Marie gave a gently grateful look.
And you, Miss Springs...she nodded.
Yeah.
Maybe she's using magics to cover her demonity. It is kinda convenient for her to show tonight… Or maybe she's a human agent...
Yeah, some treacherous traitor to our kind whom I could kill without a second thought...
"Actually..." Peter had decided to make a brilliant suggestion. "You could actually do us a great favor, Miss De Russel..."
Oh, no...Elizabeth eyed Willie...Who rolled eyes...
"If you could let Miss Springs stay with you in your room tonight. See, the hotel was a bit overbooked when we came today and she not having a reservation..."
"No, no..." Miss Springs waved a hand. Rather frantically... "No need to put ya out, Miss..."
"Oh, I'd be very glad to..."
"That's excellent..." Potter beamed.
There somethin' wrong with you, fellah? Elizabeth stared at him...I mean bein' a gent's all very well and all...But you gonna pass up a crack at a pretty damned neat gal who's been chasin' ya all day?
Damn...she tried to repress a slight glower as Marie noted how pleasant it would be for them to spend the night together...Like her and her sisters back in the shop...er her father's old factory shop. Before he made his fortune...
"Yeah...Great..." Miss Springs noted curtly. Willie giving her a sympathetic look...
….
"What about her...?" Vladimir indicated a youngish woman in somewhat disreputable dress, staggering a bit down the street near the Germania where he and Olive maintained their mutual respective watches over the two foci of their interest...
"A street whore?...Vladimir..." Olive glared. "I can't send a trollop in to meet with our fine lady in a decent hotel. Not to mention I have no desire to spend a week or two getting over every disease she's carrying. Even if it would only be a week or two for our kind..."
Though if she's to your taste...she smiled warmly.
"And you don't mind a week to a month of sores and scratching yourself half to death..."
"It was merely a suggestion, my dear...Though frankly, I think you'd have little difficulty in making her as fine a lady as you require. A little cleaning and an air of grace, along with the right clothes...I assure you I could show you many a duchess who could pass for such as she on the right evening..."
I bet you could...she frowned. Aristocrats...Degenerates, all. And someday...When the revolution I once lived and was ready to kill, as a human, for, comes. If it comes before Nast starts his own takeover...
You'll be the first to the wall, I promise you...
Which would be an easier fate than what my Heinrich has in mind for you, if time permits...
"My dear Olive..." young Dracula interrupted her reverie. "I understand you were quite the revolutionary in your human day..."
"I fought for what I considered social justice, Count. Without restraint or remorse. I still do, though strictly for our own kind now..." she eyed him.
"Have you ever considered...?" he smiled... "A revolt within the family circle?" His face turned serious. Surprising her in spite of herself…
"Nast is a fool, Olive...And he will lead us all to destruction. Apocalyptic destruction. After all...There will be another Slayer after Miss Springs is destroyed..."
"That will hardly matter if Heinrich gains the Mouth's power..." she gave him a hard stare. "And the Master is my sire..." she noted.
"But as I threw off my very granduncle and sire's hold over me..." young Dracula noted quietly. "So a dedicated revolutionary like yourself could her sire's...If the cause merited it..."
"As it does...Being namely our people's and the world's survival..."
She stared at his sincere face...