PART 3

Your face appears again
I see the beauty there
But I see danger
Stranger beware
Of circumstance in your naked dreams
Your affection is not what it seems

You are an obsession
You're my obsession
Who do you want me to be
To make you sleep with me?
You are an obsession
You're my obsession
Who do you want me to be
To make you sleep with me?

- "Obsession", Animotion

The lights were dim in Darla's chic rooftop apartment as she and Buffy took up space in the living room.

Buffy narrowed her eyes as she continued her rant about her mother's new boyfriend, the almighty Ted—Buffy stifled the urge to gag at the thought of him—while the Slayer replaced the bandage on Darla's still-injured right hand as the centuries-old vampiress lay resting in her comfy chair.

Even though the ritual between Darla and Drusilla weeks ago to restore the mad vampire's health nearly killed Darla—the scowling Slayer mentally made a note to herself to pummel Spike into a bloody paste before staking him the next time she saw him—Buffy noted in relief that her undead girlfriend had been recovering nicely since then.

Yet Buffy's rant was fuming and nonstop. "So mom's like, 'Do you think Ted will like this?' and 'This is Ted's favorite show,' and 'Ted's teaching me computers,' and 'Ted said the funniest thing,' and I'm like, 'That's really great, Mom,' and then she said I was being sarcastic, which I was, but I'm sorry if I don't wanna talk about Ted all the time…"

Sighing in boredom, though she was mildly amused with the rant's consistency, Darla looked up at the younger blond. "So…you gonna talk about something else at some point? Just wondering."

Buffy blushed, embarrassed for a moment that she was probably boring her girlfriend to tears. "I'm sorry. I just…I already have so much to deal with, I don't need some new guy in my life." As she finished wrapping the bandage, Darla handed her a piece of tape.

Darla gazed at her sagely. "Maybe not…but maybe your mom does. You ever consider that, darling?"

Buffy frowned as she took the tape and placed it on the bandage. She didn't like where this was going.

"Well, sure, if you're gonna use wisdom," Buffy pouted.

Darla chuckled and for a second, Buffy felt a mix of embarrassment and anger for perceiving the vampiress's chortle for condescension.

To her relief, Darla followed it up with a sympathetic look in those sky-blue eyes of hers that Buffy could get lost in for days. "Try to see it from your mother's point of view, Buffy," Darla softly reasoned. "She's just trying to connect with someone. It's healthy. Hell, it's human. Even for a demon, loneliness is one of the scariest things there is. Believe me…400 years of experience talking, here."

Buffy sighed in resignation. The one downside of dating an immortal hot chick? Occasionally, that age and wisdom thing made some actual sense against Buffy's own views.

"Okay, so my mom needs a guy in her life," she said before frowning in distaste. "Still…does it have to be Ted?"

"Well, do you have somebody else in mind?" Darla asked patiently. "Is there a man out there that would satisfy your objections over your mother's dating life?"

Buffy looked at the elder woman, a hopeful look in her eyes. "My dad?"

Off Darla's look, one perfect golden eyebrow arched in incredulous amusement, Buffy sighed again in defeat. "Yeah, okay, that's not gonna happen."

"I wish it would," Darla gently offered. "But I've been around long enough to know that when couples decide to end it, there's a reason for it. And it's almost impossible to get them back together. Buffy, I know it's…uncomfortable for you…but your mother has been there for you through a lot. And when the people you love want to try something new, as long as it's safe, sometimes the only thing we can do is support them. After all, she does deserve some happiness...doesn't she?"

Exasperated, Buffy gave a flustered shake of her head. "Fine, fine, I'll give Ted a chance. I'll play mini-golf, and I'll smile and curtsy and be the dutiful daughter."

She paused, doing that cute pout with her lips again that Darla loved. "Do I have to like him?"

Darla smiled at her, amused…and aroused. "Kiss me," she softly beckoned the young Slayer.

Buffy smiled back, excitedly. "Finally, something I wanna do!"

She leaned over Darla and kissed her lightly on the lips. She slowly fell into the older woman's lap and they kissed more passionately.

Slowly, Buffy pulled back, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "I have a surprise for you."

"Oh, no, you're gonna cook," Darla replied with a teasing smile.

Frowning, Buffy gave her a light shove. "Hey, no making fun of me. Or you lose all smoochie privileges for the night."

Darla laughed. "Fine, fine. Sorry, dear. Go on. Thrill me."

The mischievous gleam in Buffy's eyes suddenly changed into a glow, a hint of something wicked...something...sexy?, Darla mused.

"Careful what you wish for, Quadricentennial Gal," Buffy said, a coquettish smirk on her face, before her slender finders glided to her lacy white tank-top blouse. Undoing the buttons, she pulled her shirt back and slowly shimmied out of her loose gray baggy pants to reveal what she was wearing underneath…

...a snug, high-cut yellow leotard that wrapped around every inch of Buffy's perfectly fit form like some kind of provocative candy wrapper around a shapely candy bar. Beige-brown silky tights wrapped around her well-sculpted legs, black leg warmers encasing her sculpted calves, new white sneakers adorning her feet. At the right corner of her hip was the Sunnydale High School Razorbacks logo with that angry swine that was her school's mascot adorning her slinky outfit. Buffy's shiny golden hair, all neatly piled up on top of her head in a bun, accentuated the whole look.

Even as Darla felt desire and surprise spike through her long-still veins, part of the elder woman recognized that there was no way the school board would have ever given the go-ahead to such a scant, scandalous outfit for the school. The student body would have had too much student body on display. Which meant Buffy probably had this made custom for her, which on a high schooler's allowance wasn't cheap.

Buffy smirked, a sultry look in her eyes as she saw the wide-eyed, stunned, and aroused look in the vampire's eyes. Her grin grew playful as she gently brushed her fingers slowly down her neck's jugular. To a vampire like Darla, it was the most erotic thing she'd ever seen.

"What's the matter? Feeling a little...distracted?" Buffy asked, her voice husky, her tone teasing, but wanting.

If Darla could have breathed, her breath would have gone shallow by now. Buffy looked absolutely...edible. And not in the 'I want to drink your blood like a garden hose' way…although the thought of it sent another spike of desire coursing through Darla. It should have been a crime to look as stunning as Buffy did. Behind the snappy quips, hard right cross, and guarded innocence of Sunnydale's protector...there was a woman there. A beautiful one. One that smelled of desire and vanilla and what Darla's preternatural sense of smell could detect was a tiny hint of jasmine—Darla's favorite scent— coming from just very strategic parts under the leotard. There was no doubt Buffy knew that and had done so consciously.

Here she was, Buffy Summers, The Slayer, The Chosen One, the scourge of the underworld, guardian of the Hellmouth, the bane of all undead, blonde and physically toned to perfection, muscles in places most people didn't even have places, sculpted with feminine exquisiteness...offering herself up like a sexy desert to one of the deadliest vampires in history.

Many a vampire would've paid a fortune to be in Darla's position, not that any of them could've handled it.

But barely holding down the primal predator in her rising to take control and take this petite beauty before her in every which way from Sunday, Darla reeled in her lust and kept herself cool despite the situation.

"Distracted is...one word to describe it," Darla said slowly, cursing herself for swallowing so intently. "Something tells me that…" Her eyes roamed over the scantily-spandex-clad form of the Slayer like she was devouring her with her sight alone. "...that little outfit isn't exactly school regulation."

"You like?" Buffy smiled, kittenish. "It took me a few weeks of saving allowance cash, but I managed to get a tailor shop to custom make it for me. I figured I'd...surprise you."

Darla drank in the sight of her again. "Consider me surprised."

Buffy moved, or rather slinked, her way towards the black duffel bag that Darla had thought contained her gym gear. Imagine her surprise when she pulled out a small black boombox. Hitting play, the song "That's the Way Love Goes" now quietly began its seductive, jazzy beats. With an unhurried rhythm, Buffy began to sway and dance to the rhythm.

As the Slayer's hips swinging in a slow, sensual, torturously slow manner to the music, the image created a surge of heat through Darla's normally ice-cold body that went straight to her loins.

Rocking her hips suggestively to the music, Buffy turned her back to Darla before she playfully teased sliding one strap of her leotard slightly down her arm. Looking back suggestively over her shoulder, Buffy gave Darla a teasing smile, winked and then she moved slowly to the music rotating her hips. Beginning at her hair, she ran her hands down her body, tracing her perfect breasts…

...then her hips…

….before sliding her hands down her sculpted legs to put both hands on the floor. Slowly parting her legs and sliding them along the ground into what Darla concluded was the most gorgeous split she'd ever seen, Buffy then slowly lowered her body to the floor, her eyes never leaving Darla.

Pulling her legs together, Buffy then arched her acrobatic body into a backbend, kneeling on the floor with her weight on her shins. She continued all the way back down to the floor so that her head was resting on the floor between her feet. Coming up out of the backbend, and taking a deep breath, Buffy slowly came to her feet then turned around once again to face Darla .

Darla was so mesmerized watching the tiny, nimble beauty's movement that she somehow missed how Buffy deftly managed to grab a pair of pom poms from the gym bag she had.

"You always keep making fun of the fact that I'm a cheerleader...still funny?" Buffy said, a husky tone in her light, teasing voice.

The lust in Darla was so palpable that she could feel an age old ache between her thighs. Her own voice grew thick with wanton longing. But because she was Darla, she still had to find a way to get one-up. "Still, yes. But if you think you can change my mind, cheerleader...prove me wrong."

Buffy's beautiful light green eyes registered the challenge, and the way they glowed in a mix of desire and competitiveness, Darla knew the Slayer had taken the bait.

Raising her arms up, Buffy began shaking her pom-poms. Both the literal and figurative ones.

"Darla, Darla, she's our girl,

She breaks hearts and makes toes curl"

Bouncing up and down on her heels in youthful buoyancy, Buffy then began rotating her hips in unhurried, torturous circles before throwing her left leg up in a high kick that gave Darla a generous view of one of the Chosen One's sculpted thighs.

"Darla, Darla, give her the crown

of hottest vampire girl in town"

Flashing a flirtatious smile and batting a cheeky wink at the older woman, Buffy went all in on her cheerleading routine as she bounced and twirled and shimmied and gyrated her lovely, petite frame for Darla and Darla alone with her little private show.

"Darla!

Darla!

Goooooo Darla! Wooooo!"

Bending her knees, Buffy slowly lowered her body and slowly rose her back up arching her back, which gave Darla a lovely view of Buffy's perfect ass. Then with a perfect cartwheel, Buffy turned her body in a handspring and landed perfectly in Darla's lap, drawing a surprised laugh from the vampiress.

Buffy giggled as she fell into the woman's embrace. "What do you think? Too embarrassing?"

Darla could only smirk. "Just embarrassing enough."

Their lips clashed as Buffy closed her eyes, moved forward, and locked lips with Darla in a deep, tender kiss.

Smiling to herself as the make-out session grew more heated, Darla mentally waited for the right moment. That moment came when she heard the soft sound of Buffy's moan against her mouth as the Summers girl opened it for Darla's tongue, which slid in slowly after being granted permission to enter. Darla could smell the lust and want oozing out of Buffy's pores as Darla slipped her tongue in and out as if making love to the blonde teen's mouth, Buffy moaning as she pushed her hands into Darla's hair, her breath hot, sweet and heavy. Darla had mastered the art of the kiss centuries ago, and her experienced tongue and nimble hands had Buffy coming alive, nerve endings prickling in anticipation. Buffy's lips ached for more pressure with every gentle nibble on her lower lip, every brush of her tongue.

Knowing Buffy was ready, Darla grinned as she brushed her hand down Buffy's breast, feeling the nipple stiffen automatically, before it drifted down her toned stomach and deftly, artfully slid underneath Buffy's leotard. Before she realized it, Buffy gasped sharply as she felt Darla's deft hands start rubbing their fingertips across her vagina.

Despite a small part of her that told her to stop things now before they got too far, Buffy found herself welcoming Darla's touch. More than that. Wanting it. Needing it. Craving it.

As Buffy's eyes shut closed, biting her lip, letting out a breathy moan, Darla smiled as she read the younger woman's emotions as easily as one would a book while she turned her hand around underneath Buffy's leotard, sinking her index and middle finger deeply into Buffy.

A loud moan escaped Buffy as her muscles tensed. Darla smiled, enjoying the moment of seeing the mighty Slayer under the thrall of lust cast by her own fingers . Moving her two fingers back and forth and up and down inside Buffy, Darla slowly moved her thumb to caress Buffy's most sacred area.

With her eyes clenched shut tightly, Buffy felt her head start spinning with desire as she sensed her hips on their own accord begin slowly, rhythmically rocking back and forth, lost in the moment, the aching desire in her crotch beginning to build like a match lighting up dry kindling on a hot summer day. She was butter in Darla's hands and she felt herself melting with every touch, every stroke.

"Darla," Buffy moaned, lost in ecstasy as she felt Darla thrust her fingers inside and move her thumb in a graceful, circular motion against her womanhood.

"Shh, it's okay, darling. Just relax," Darla whispered back against her shell-like ear, holding her close as she shifted Buffy to face the front so she would be sitting in her lap with Buffy's back leaning against her. Smirking, Darla used her free hand to drift upwards across the soft fabric of Buffy's leotard until she found one perfect breast, firm pressure, cupping and squeezing the perfect mound, and she could hear Buffy's heartbeat smashing wildly against her chest.

The girl was falling apart in her hands and Darla savored every moment, remembering the heady scent of vanilla and lust oozing from Buffy's warm skin, relishing the sweet salty taste of her as the vampiress darted out her tongue and dragged it lazily up Buffy's neck, eliciting another sigh of appreciation. Darla's other hand continued its masterful dance across Buffy's sex, its motions fast, then slow, deep, then shallow, hard, then soft, switching seamlessly between styles, filling Buffy with ecstasy in new ways with each one. Finally, she began to withdraw her hand.

"Don't...stop," Buffy said softly. Darla looked down at her, watching the young woman's eyes shut tight, her mouth open in a small 'O'. "Darla...please..."

Darla was silent for a while, marveling at the beauty helplessly writhing in her hands. "Ask me again," Darla wore a slight smirk on her beautiful face, which grew wider as she felt Buffy's pelvis wriggle, desperately seeking the friction, the magic of Darla's fingers but denied them in a slightly cruel torture.

The small slayer panted softly yet heavily, unable to hide her excitement. "I... I…..please….please, Darla..."

Satisfied as she paused for a moment, Darla inserted three fingers deep within Buffy and began grinding her thumb against her clit. Losing all control, Buffy threw her head back and moaned louder than before and rocked her hips back and forth. Buffy's head was spinning. She felt close, every muscle in her body tightened and on the verge of the sweetest ecstasy…

"...Mmmnh….Darla...Darla….oh, God….oh…."

The soft words sleepily left Buffy's mouth as she continued lying on the bed in Darla's bedroom, blissfully unaware and sleeping deeply in the thrall of the Calynthia powder. She was still clothed in that revealing beige workout leotard that she wore the night Darla had plucked her from the Magick Shop.

Lying alongside her with a hand slowly tracing up and down Buffy's toned body, Darla gave a lazy smile. She had been able to use the powder for days to create such dreams. Diving deep into the Slayer's memory, pulling out her most important moments, good and bad, and twisting them around so that Darla was there somehow. Manipulating, grafting Buffy's memories and dreams at will as easily as one would shift patterns along the grainy sand of a beach.

But a part of Darla had become worried. For the powder worked both ways. The more that Darla had to delve into Buffy's memories, work with the Slayer's most intimate moments, got to know her...the more Darla felt something start to gain some measure of...something...for Buffy. Was it respect? Admiration? Even...affection?

No, Darla swatted away that thought. That couldn't be it. She was a vampire. Such frail human emotions lost their sway with her long ago. She was a predator, she took what she wanted. And she wanted the Slayer, it was simple as that.

Or, at least, that's what she told herself.

Still, Darla recognized that this Slayer was...different. She still didn't fully understand what it was that drew Angel and Spike, once two of the most ruthless vampires she'd ever known, to this little blonde beauty with the funny name with such fervor. But whatever it was, Darla was determined not to fall prey to it. She was the one who did the seducing, not the other way around. To give anyone that kind of power over her again was simply not something she was willing to do.

She knew she had to act fast. While the powder was effective, she knew she needed something more...lasting...for this Slayer.

Thankfully, Darla smiled to herself as she continued tracing patterns up and down Buffy's lithe body while the sleeping, entranced Slayer softly moaned and sighed unaware in dreamy bliss...she knew just the right demon for the job.

"I still don't understand what you were possibly thinking, Darla."

There's something about the way Cyvus Vail's ancient, scratchy voice gravels out of his wrinkled windpipe that makes Darla – maintaining her carefully-crafted visage of politeness and respect - want to subconsciously cough or clear her own throat, despite the fact that she will never have the same issues the maroon-skinned, ancient demonic warlock has with age or breathing.

Through the centuries, Darla had learned to cultivate charm and etiquette and blend it with her own beauty in a way to seamlessly weave through the inner circles of upper society, be it demon or human. And as a result, those charms had allowed her to gain confidants and contacts of great power and influence. Few embodied those traits quite like Cyvus Vail. The two had met in Vienna around the turn of the century during a party at the palace for Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Darla had crashed the party in her subtle way, idly looking around for her next rich victim when she had sensed Vail's presence. His magick had cloaked his appearance as a handsome, yet aging aristocrat, the warlock himself on business on behalf of Wolfram & Hart as he sought to corner the black market on magick in this influential corner of the known world.

Yet despite the human rabble at the palace accepting Vail without question as one of their own, Darla could smell, could sense the ancient power and dark magicks rolling off him in waves. He was not very strong physically, but the energy he gave off made Darla feel like she was in the presence of lightning personified – formidable, deadly, crackling and humming angrily with power. And from the way Vail eyed her – apart from the obvious lust flickering in his aging eyes as he appraised her svelte figure wrapped in a gorgeous white dress – she could tell that he sensed something about her, too, something that ran deeper than the beauty on the surface.

Perhaps he was amused by her daring in crashing a highly-secure party at a royal palace. Maybe he admired her skill in sneaking past the guards. Or maybe it was just wanton lust, she never bothered to inquire too much deeper, but Vail took a liking to her. Developing something of a friendship, they had kept in frequent contact through the decades, Vail often granting her gifts such as ornate jewelry or, more often than not, potent spells she needed for whatever escapades that she got involved with whenever she decided to stray from The Master's nest on her flights of fancy.

In exchange, Darla entertained him with her presence as the two talked for hours, the sultry vampiress often dressing up in something beautiful or revealing for the old warlock's benefit. It had been some time since he had been willingly entertained by a beautiful woman, Darla could sense, and so long as she played her part carefully, Vail was more than happy to return her grace with gifts to demonstrate his power and wealth. Such a typically male thing to do, Darla sighed in boredom, but Vail was invaluable as a contact and ally and, ever the self-minded vampire, Darla was more than willing to indulge an old demon's decadent need for attention if it meant getting what she wanted.

And right now, what she wanted was to get off of Wolfram & Hart's radar for keeps. She knew that Vail's connection with the firm ran deep, and when she reached out to him for help after she and Drusilla slaughtered all those lawyers inside Holland Manners' basement, despite some reluctance to go against the wishes of the Senior Partners, Vail was instrumental in misleading the firm's agents to Darla's whereabouts, helping to misdirect them on several occasions to allow Darla time to evade them. This was not a favor Vail would have likely granted to anyone, Darla suspected, but she knew that the old warlock had grown quite fond of her through the years, and she found him willing to bend more than a few rules on her behalf if it meant keeping her around.

Though, given the risk involved with her current plan, she was not so surprised when she found the brick-hued demon less than thrilled with her proposal when she invited him to her chateau for tea…and a favor.

Calmly, Darla sipped her chamomile tea as the two sat in the dining hall opposite each other on the grotesquely long dining table. She eyed him with a rather nonchalant, almost disinterested stare that she had perfected over time before she casually answered. "I still don't see what the big deal is, Cyvus."

The way his bulbous, yellowish eyes widened into saucers was almost comical to Darla, who managed to suppress her urge to chuckle. "Big deal? My dear, you realize that you are playing with forces that you could not possibly comprehend, toying with fire that could easily consume you."

The polite warning in his voice does little to faze her. When Darla made up her mind about a course of action, she would see it through until either her goal was reached or she was absolutely sure that she would gain nothing else from her path.

"You'd be surprised at what I could comprehend, my…sweet friend," Darla smiled, a gesture that blended just the right amount of friendship, politeness and a hint of kittenishness that usually seldom failed to draw a dazed grin from the elderly mage.

She had consciously learned to avoid the word "old" around him and substitute other sweeter, coquettish adjectives for it when referring to him. And it worked, the old crone's ego swelling exponentially as the immortal siren buttered him up every time.

"Yes, I'm sure," his voice rasped out. "Still, I must re-submit my concerns. I would be wary of you coming in close proximity with any Slayer, but this one? The Senior Partners have been watching her. She has become something of a problem. One they would soon see erased."

"I'm fully aware of what your precious Senior Partners are concerned with, thank you," Darla sighed dispassionately. "But if this Slayer is such a source of potential worry for them, I imagine I would be doing them a favor by taking her out of the game, in a manner of speaking."

"Perhaps," he said, his ancient eyes weighing the proposition carefully. "But I still can't understand this spell you want me to concoct. It has its risks. Especially with a Slayer involved, of all people. Why not just let me cast a full-blanket enslavement incantation? The Slayer would be yours to do with as you wish, you could make her do anything you wanted—"

"I'm not looking for a pet, Cyvus. And I already have a slave. I believe you met Marvin." She stirred her drink, making sure never to set her gaze down from Vail's. It was a primitive thing—demons respected strength above all, and Vail was no different. "I'm looking for an equal. A companion."

He cocked a graying eyebrow. "Aren't there websites for that sort of thing?"

"You're missing the point." Darla fought hard to keep from rolling her eyes. It honestly surprised her that Vail, for all of his experience, didn't see what she did in the possibilities she saw. "I used to think that all that there was to this Slayer was just strength and a young, hot body with blond hair. There couldn't have been anything else that lured Angelus so far off his path when they first met. But I've watched her, I've studied her. She's…unique."

"That's what the word is," Vail murmured, somewhat sarcastically and unconvinced.

"I'm serious," Darla said patiently. "There's something about her. A spark of something…interesting. Exploring it would be a distraction for me…and her. Which I think your partners should find beneficial. After all, removing the Slayer, the girl sworn to slay vampires, and one that's taken it upon herself to combat evil well outside the boundaries of her duties—which I'd venture may one day include meddling in affairs your precious firm has in the works in L.A.—may be something I'd wager your friends would find…most helpful. And I would imagine…you'd probably be looking pretty good by facilitating that, as well. Perhaps well enough to garner certain…rewards on their behalf?"

Darla gave a faint smile as she saw Vail weighing her arguments, his sallow yellow eyes clouded in thought. He was thinking it over seriously, she could see the wheels turning in his mind. She realized what she was asking him to do was not something he would take likely. To defy the Senior Partners and displease them was to court death, even for one as powerful as Vail. But at the same time, if carefully crafted, to curry their favor would have beneficial rewards. Darla knew Vail knew that. Add to that the bonus of potentially pleasing Darla and earning a...favor...from herself, and the vampiress had a feeling it would be too tempting for the old warlock to resist.

At last, Vail nodded. "We have to keep this discreet. At first. If this backfires, I can't be connected to this in any way."

"It will all be kept under wraps," Darla smiled at him with reassurance. "You have my word."

Taking her words in, Vail nodded once again. "I'll need to gather the right materials from my mansion. But have her ready by eight o'clock tomorrow night. And safely restrained. I'm not taking any chances with a Slayer...especially not that one. I'm old, but not dumb. Once that's settled, I'll be back with just the right spell."

Darla had to fight to contain the smile from growing too wide. At last, it was all coming together. "Thank you, my dear friend," she said ever-so-sweetly, extending her hand towards him.

The look of dazed lust glinted his eyes as his leathery lips kissed the top of her soft yet powerful hand. "My pleasure, my dear," he rasped out. "Just remember...you owe me a favor."

Fighting the urge to vomit for a moment, Darla feigned her most kittenish smile. "Oh, my sweet Cyvus...you know I'm good for it."

To Be Continued…