Everything either belongs to Joss or it should, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Hyperion Hotel – Los Angeles – March 2004
Sat in a chair Drusilla looked down at the thick silver bracelet as they snapped it into place on her wrist. 'It doesn't go with my other jewellery' she complained as the man fitting it sealed the lock mechanism closed. They had her in the basement downstairs, two slayers with crossbows stood by the stairs up to the hotel and another was pointing a Taser pistol at her. Spike and Angel were stood either side in case she needed restraint but she was being as meek and submissive as you could hope for, allowing the nerd in the white lab-coat to go about his business.
'I can't believe Wesley kept that as a souvenir' Angel observed to Fred stood beside him as Knox finished securing the device.
Fred smiled. 'It has a few modifications courtesy of yours-truly' she told him reaching over to tap the bracelet, trying not to let her concern of being so close to Drusilla show. 'One third magic, one third medieval technology and one third twenty-first century electronics' she told him indicating the engraving on it. 'You'd almost think it was destiny' she joked.
Angel smiled back 'The XXI on the thing meant twenty-one victories needed to obtain your freedom' he told her. 'Octavian Matches, two demons enter one demon leaves' he explained.
'Here's the deal' Knox told Drusilla, 'break it and face the wheel' he added, grinning at his own joke. 'If you go anywhere we don't want you to in the Hyperion the bracelet will give you a fifty-thousand volt reminder that you're lost' he told her. 'Get more than a hundred yards from the hotel without permission and it'll disintegrate you' he continued more seriously. 'There's a tracking device embedded with a GPS transponder that tells us where you are anywhere on Earth to within twenty-five yards and if you try to disable or take off the bracelet you'll regret it because first it'll shock you and then if you keep trying it'll turn you to dust' he advised.
'Nasty jewellery' Drusilla told the thing, 'bad bracelet' she chided wagging the finger of her other hand at it.
Spike shook his head. 'Could have been a lot worse love' he told her. 'I might have kept the chip they took out of me noggin as a souvenir and they'd be putting that in you instead.'
'I wouldn't want them seeing my insides' Drusilla responded. 'They don't even love my outsides.'
'Vivisect one vampire you've cut open them all' Knox responded. 'We've got a remote control for the bracelet so you can shock her with a push of a button' he told Angel, 'might help with behavioural modification if that's what you're planning' he continued. 'Negative reinforcement or maybe aversion therapy would work wonders' he suggested. 'Wolfram and Hart made great progress in the area' he noted.
'Aversion therapy?' Spike repeated. 'Like bleeding Clockwork Orange?' he asked.
'Help cure her of her desires for a bit of the old ultra-violence' Knox replied with a grin.
Drusilla glared at Knox. 'I don't like him' she said. 'Can I eat him?' she asked.
Angel gave the request a great deal more serious consideration than Knox would have liked. 'Sorry Dru I don't like him much either but he's useful to keep around' he replied eventually.
'Like Dalton, you remember him don't you Love?' Spike asked her.
'Only one with half a brain' Drusilla responded remembering their old intellectual vampire minion 'He was a wanker too' she noted. 'Killed by a demon shaded as the sky though not the one you worship' she told Knox. 'Can I see baby brother now?' she asked Angel hopefully.
Fred looked at him quizzically. 'Connor?' she asked, Angel nodding in response. 'She knows he's your actual son not just a vampire you sired?' she queried.
'I'm not stupid' Drusilla interrupted curtly and crossed her arms. 'I want to see my baby brother' she insisted.
'He's not here' Angel told her. 'You can see him tomorrow' he promised. 'We'll take you to your room for now' he continued. 'So have you got that remote control?' he asked Fred.
Fred passed him a small device. 'Shock level is variable from "ouch" to "scream" and turn the dial all the way up you might even get some smoke' she told him. 'We weren't sure how much pain she could take.'
'Anything less than excruciating isn't going to motivate her' Spike opined. 'She likes a little pain to be honest.'
Drusilla giggled. 'Bad girls need discipline' she said. Then looked around, there was a cage nearby. 'Daddy keeps a bad girl in there' she said, 'belongs to him and the moon' she said then frowned. 'I don't want a new step-mummy that smells like doggie' she declared causing Spike to have to choke back laughter.
'Wow she really is psychic' Fred said in surprise.
'Oh yeah' Spike agreed, 'if she wasn't so bloody cryptic with it sometimes she'd be amazing' he said. 'Of course the Paddy Ninja wannabe here sent her off the deep end before he turned her.'
Angel ignored the comment about his ancestry and taste in clothes and reached over to stroke Drusilla's hair, she almost purred in response. 'She wasn't really all there before Darla and I even met her' he said. 'The sight will do that to you, Angelus just… helped her along' he told them.
'I was going to be a nun but Daddy taught me bad habits' Drusilla joked.
'She's been using that one since the 1890's' Spike noted. 'Never one for new material were you Dru?'
'Tried out a Chaos Demon once' Drusilla retorted causing Spike to scowl which in turn led her to smirk.
Angel took her hand. 'Come on Dru we'll take you to your new room' he told her. 'It's been a long day and you need your beauty sleep' he told her.
'Will you read me a story?' she asked sweetly.
The Cotswolds - Gloucestershire - March 2004
Molly looked down over the edge of the abyss. 'There's a hole in the world' she said. 'Who knew?' she asked rhetorically, resting her scythe on her shoulder as she turned back to her companions.
Drogyn the Battlebrand stood beside her, his hands clasped together behind his back. 'I still do not understand the purpose of this visit' he told her.
'The Deeper Well is on our patch so as the local Constabulary we thought we'd better drop in to make sure the inmates are properly secure' the slayer told him. 'You know if your people had just asked who we were when we arrived, instead of attacking us like maniacs, we wouldn't have had to beat so many of them up' she told him reasonably.
'The guards are… not known for their initiative' Drogyn told her honestly. Despite making sure to look inoffensive Molly and the three other slayers with her had been set upon as soon as they approached the tree that contained the entrance to the Deeper Well, they had however subsequently defended themselves more than adequately.
Some of the demon guards would remain unconscious for hours after their poorly advised assault on the four teenagers. Even when trying not to cause mortal injury a slayer packed quite a punch, especially one wearing the standard issue brass-knuckles they all carried now. Various items were now generic slayer equipment; as well as the ubiquitous collapsible swords and spring loaded wrist stakes on their forearms most of the girls chose to wear a Fairbairn-Sykes commando dagger strapped to their ankle, brass knuckles in a pocket and if they were in reasonably heavy action an equipment belt with a scabbard for one of the enchanted Roman style Gladius short-swords on one hip and a holstered Glock 31 on the other. You had to demonstrate proficiency with all of the above before they would let you patrol these days, although some were heard to protest that if the rules had always been like that Buffy wouldn't be allowed out herself, she was a notoriously bad shot with a firearm.
'Well it's a good thing my people have some restraint or yours would all be dead right now instead of just roughed up a bit' Molly told Drogyn. 'We're going to leave you one of our satellite telephones so we can call ahead the next time we drop in so lets try not to have a rematch' the slayer requested. 'Don't worry, we'll make sure the Deeper Well is ex-directory' she joked.
Drogyn indicated his acquiescence to the slayers request then frowned. 'You say you heard of this place through Illyria?' he asked. 'We do not get many visitors and those that do are typically the misguided remnants of our guests followers seeking their release.'
'Yeah' Molly replied. 'Our Blue Meanie not yours I mean' she told him. 'You did make sure your Illyria is secure down here when you found out her followers got her out in the other universe right?' she queried. 'Last thing we need is another one of them running around. The one we've got is dangerous enough already thanks and I bet yours isn't as cuddly as ours.'
Drogyn nodded. 'We have increased both our physical and mystical security' he replied. 'I would choose not to have to try and bring them back here if they got out but it would be my duty to try' he told the slayer. 'Illyria? Cuddly?' he asked in surprise.
Molly pursed her lips. 'Well cuddly might be exaggerating' she admitted. 'Well unless you mean with Wesley' she added. As for the security I'm glad to hear it' she told him. 'Of course Old One's aren't the problem they used to be back in the days these babies weren't in full scale production' she said indicating her scythe, 'but we'd still prefer the mouldy gits under lock and key' she said honestly. The idea of messing with something that might be as mean as the Smurf God wasn't appealing in the least.
'They sense your weapon, even from their sarcophagi' Drogyn told her. 'It disturbs them' he noted. 'Their spirits whisper to me from the Well and they sense the aura it generates around it' he said then rounded on Natasha. 'Please don't drop your litter in there' he told the slayer who looked like she was about to throw an empty chewing gum wrapper into the Deeper Well. Natasha shrugged and stuck it into her jacket pocket, probably best not spit the used gum in there later on either she decided.
Molly gave Natasha a look then turned back to Drogyn, 'Glad to hear it' she said, 'about them not liking the scythes I mean' she explained. 'They put Smurfette's, I mean Illyria's, teeth on edge too, almost as much as enclosed spaces' she told him looking around. 'And the claustrophobia makes a lot more sense now after seeing this place' she observed. 'So are you really immortal?' she asked randomly.
'You are extremely well informed' Drogyn told her raising his eyebrows.
'Knowledge is power' Molly told him, 'I write everything useful down that I hear so I don't forget it' she told him. 'Like the outfit, very Monty Python and the Holy Grail' she noted. 'So how do you get the job of Warden at a supernatural Prison?' she asked curiously.
'Well it wasn't from some farcical aquatic ceremony if that's what you were thinking' Drogyn replied wryly. 'The immortality is a prerequisite, as is a reputation as a warrior of the light
Molly's jaw dropped. 'You got the Monty Python reference' she said in surprise.
'Why does everybody think if you live in a cave it isn't very nice and you don't have electricity?' Drogyn asked rhetorically. 'It's actually very nice, I have indoor plumbing and a television' he told her. 'It's usually connected up to my Xbox now though' he admitted. 'I suspect the note from Illyria advising me to get one was a despicable act of revenge for its incarceration, the wretched device eats up my free time to a ludicrous degree' he complained bitterly, 'and even worse several of the demon guards demanded one for their rec-room after I foolishly let them play on mine' he continued. 'I had not faced such insurrection since they went on strike insisting on an increase in the beer ration' he told her with a sigh.
Molly decided to change the subject fast, she got the impression he didn't get to talk to people much and didn't want to start him off on a major vent of his career woes. 'We say "she" not "it" when we talk about Illyria' she told him. 'Looks like a girl, acts like a girl… well sort-of, dating a guy…' she continued. 'Well you know, if it walks, talks and quacks like a duck you call it a duck' she told him, 'previous tentacles notwithstanding.'
Drogyn shook his head. 'You should not allow yourself to fall into the trap of appearances' he told her. 'The Old One is dangerous' he continued, 'would you burn someone as a witch because they weighed the same as a duck?' he asked deadpan.
Molly burst out laughing. 'Good one' she told him. He was a weird sort of bloke but there was a definite sense of humour there which she hadn't expected. He was cute too in a medieval kinda way she decided, and the age gap between them was seriously sub Wes/Illyria, or even Xander/Anya most likely might be worth flirting with, there had definitely been a lack of male company that looked less than sixty for too long. Being a slayer, especially a slayer with her level of authority and responsibility took up far too much of her time. 'I don't suppose you've got a list of the prisoners in here for our records?' she asked.
'Only carved into the stone' Drogyn replied, indicating runes and symbols chipped out of the rock all around.
'Can't read it' Molly told him. 'That's okay we'll take pictures and email them back to LA' she continued reaching into a pocket and pulling out a cell-phone with a digital camera fitted.
Drogyn watched the young girl as she started using the device to record the inscriptions. 'Are you going to be here long?' he asked.
'Just a quick visit, heading down to Devon to check out security at a Coven down there then back to London' Molly told him. 'Probably drop back in occasionally to make sure everything's going okay' she added.
'I will endeavour to be a more gracious host next time' Drogyn told her, 'and welcome you as other warriors of the light with arms more open than wielded' he promised.
'It would make a nice change' Molly told him. 'Become a slayer, meet new and interesting people from ancient cultures and poke them with swords and pointy sticks is usually how it goes' she observed, half seriously.
Drogyn nodded, such was always the way to those that chose to hold the line against evil, there was always so damn much of it around. 'Then I hope MiLady that you would come to think of the Deeper Well as much as sanctuary to you as a jail for your foes' he told her.
Molly thought about it. 'Have you considered paint because it's really got a dank theme to it' she opined, 'some nice pastels maybe?' she suggested. 'I read that they put inmates in some American prisons in pink clothes as a punishment, you could spray paint up some of the sarcophagi the same colour.'
A freezing wind blew up from the Deeper Well and almost seemed to blow right through them all. Molly felt an icy chill reach deep inside her, her bones seemed to freeze and she shuddered.
'They liked that idea even less that they like the scythe being here' Drogyn told her seriously.
Hyperion Hotel – Los Angeles – March 2004
They took Drusilla upstairs and into the lobby. As she walked in, still flanked by Spike and Angel it wasn't quite true to say it was the cliché that you could hear a pin drop but the sound of safety catches being released on forearm collapsible swords was fairly evident among the half dozen or so slayers present. Unlike Wesley's prototype the production model was fitted with a simple switch that had to be correctly positioned for the mechanism to engage, it prevented the sword unfolding itself when not required which was a special bonus to those users who tended to wave their arms about animatedly when they spoke. With the original collapsible sword you could accidentally impale a friend by merely gesticulating a tad too vigorously during a conversation, and that would be a major social faux-pas at the very least.
'Slayers, slayers everywhere but only one real one' Drusilla declared, fixing her eyes on one particular girl in the Lobby. 'You're real' she said. 'I made you' she said happily.
Faith walked over and looked Drusilla up and down. 'Guess you did' she admitted then without warning threw a punch that sent the vampire sprawling. 'Never met Kendra but I reckon if she's watching she deserves to see that' Faith declared to a chorus of cheers from the other slayers, they all knew the story. 'She steps out of line and we lock her in a cage and weld the door shut' she told Angel.
'She's unhinged enough already' Spike pointed out, helping Drusilla back up. 'You need her as stable as possible or you'll never understand what the hell she's blathering on about trust me' he said. 'It's bleeding hard enough when she's acting half way normal.'
'And that's the only reason we haven't already caged the bitch' Faith responded. 'She bares the fangs and she's going to get zapped, she tries the evil eye hypnosis shit and she's going to get a beating, she hurts anyone here and I will personally hold her face-down in a bucket of Holy Water' she declared. 'Do you understand me bitch?' she asked Drusilla.
The vampires tongue tasted her own blood which was dripping from her split lip. 'Caged' she said.
'That's right I'll put you in a cage' Faith told her.
'Not me you' Drusilla replied. 'Pretty bird, escaped from the cage out there but still trapped in the cage in here' she said tapping her head. 'I made a fun slayer Daddy are you proud of me?' she asked. 'Not boring like the others' she said smiling at Faith, it was almost maternal and frankly scared the crap out of Faith a lot more than a set of fangs would have done. If Drusilla's little forays into her own mind had a general theme it was family, by killing Kendra she had activated Faith so to her mind she was almost the slayers sire, or even her mummy. It was as it happens one of the extremely few occasions in her life when Faith's own mother didn't really seem so bad.
Drusilla tilted her head slightly and sniffed the air. 'Hello little girl' she said turning towards the reception desk.
A young girl sheepishly stuck her head around the side of the desk from where she'd been hiding. 'Go to bed Deborah' Faith ordered. Giles would normally have kept an eye on her but he was at the airport catching the first available flight to Cleveland. It sounded like Ken had really run into something heavy over there and they wanted to try and nip it in the bud before it got out of hand. Willow was a lot bigger with the practical magics than Giles but he still had a lead in theory, especially demonology and prophesies.
'I just wanted to take a look' the girl responded. 'I mean… it's Drusilla' Deborah exclaimed. 'She's almost as famous as Angelus but still evil' she added wondrously.
Drusilla smiled sweetly at the girl. 'Would you like to play with Miss Edith?' she asked holding up her doll invitingly.
Angel reached for the remote control which he had stuck in his pocket, but before he could decide whether or not to give Drusilla a reminder of the terms of her quasi parole a figure jumping from the balcony above landed right beside him, grabbed hold of Drusilla and then body-slammed her to the floor hard before crashing down on top of her, holding a wooden stake ready to strike as she straddled the vampires chest.
'No' Faith yelled.
Dana held the strike and growled, it was primal as if she were channelling the very first slayer herself. Her eyes looked deep into Drusilla's own, they were almost hypnotic in themselves.
Angelus made Drusilla, sent her mad, considered her his masterpiece. Another had made Dana, psychological torture and sharp syringes full of drugs creating a mirror of Drusilla's own madness but now in slayer form. It was absolutely terrifying Drusilla shrank back and looked up at her in fear. 'Help me Daddy' she pleaded.
'We need her alive Dana' Faith told the slayer calmly and quietly, trying to sound soothing.
Dana lowered the stake to Drusilla's chest and pressed the point against it just over the heart. She lowered her face so that it was just above Drusilla's own, almost close enough to kiss, Dana's long hair hanging down to cover them both. 'Vampire' she hissed then leaned even closer, sticking out her tongue to lick Drusilla's blood off her split lip, 'I know you vampire' she declared turning her head to the side to spit it out. 'Will be watching you' she promised then in one smooth movement she rolled off Drusilla and stood up.
Every set of eyes on her Dana walked over to Deborah. 'Past your bed time' she told the young girl, taking her hand and leading her towards the stairs. Deborah might have protested but she got the distinct impression Dana would have carried her if she resisted.
Drusilla stared at Dana as she led the girl away. 'She's mad' she declared in horrified tones.
'Fair assessment' Spike agreed. 'You could start a mutual support group' he suggested.
'Superpsychos Anonymous' Faith offered. 'Word of advice' she told Drusilla who was once again being helped up by Spike, 'don't be looking at the watcher twins funny or she'll be searching the kitchen for some fava beans to have with your liver.'
'No Chianti?' Angel asked.
'Not allowed alcohol with the medication she's on' Faith told him with a shrug.
Drusilla gave Miss Edith a big hug, squeezing the doll tightly. 'I want to go to my room now' she said, hoping it had a big lock on the door to keep the crazy slayer out.
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