Why are the cute ones always so dang stubborn?

The fact said vampire's lip curled upward in the hint of an amused grin at her thought made Willow almost positive she was able to read her mind as she squeezes herself farther into her corner when Willow dares move closer.

Not for the first time since becoming a captive of this mastery "Initiative", Willow wishes she at least knew the vampire's name she was currently trapped with. The last three days of snips of conversation between them telling her who had taken her and maybe why she was still being held here and still, she had no answer other than her own given nickname of 'cute stubborn vampire' or CSV for short.

"If you don't do it willingly, I'm just going to make you." Willow threatens already looking around for something sharp enough to pierce her skin. Not that she had any viable options considering her last attempt to scratch out the ruins keeping her from using her magic to free them. The wooden bowls having already been replaced with flimsy styrofoam holding the thinned down broth their captors were using to keep at least Willow alive. Alive for what she was still unable to determine. "Then you'll be strong enough to get us out of here or at least get yourself out after you've drained me dry." She amends noticing just how sicky the curled-up woman really was.

"As tempting as you are Singer, I'm not like others of my kind." 'CSV' says not even flinching at the burn of the silver laced links holding her against the wall when she shifts to wrap her arms around her knees. "I don't drink from humans only animals."

Willow gives a rather comical pout before speaking again her dramatic skills so on point that the listening blonde almost falls for the heartbroken sob of despair as she clutched at her chest. "wait does that mean that you're the one that killed Bambi's mother?"

Again, chapped lips curl into the start of a smile as blonde shakes her head "I'm more a cat person actually but I have bled a mongrel before, and I've fed on a buck or two when I can't find an overly populated feline inhabited area to hunt." the vampire confessed, "Even then I try to leave the females and any younglings of my chosen meals alone."

Willow only blinks in surprise at the explanation before her brows furrow in confusion "What does that mean you 'bled a mongrel' I don't-"

"A wolf killed my sire and as much as I loathed her for changing me into this…" she gestures as best as she can to her slender undead form "she was still my maker, my teacher, my lover—my- my everything." The blonde answered. The sheer amount of honest pain in her blue eyes broke Willow's heart despite it being a bit hard to wrap her head around how a single wolf could manage to take down a vampire.

"Not my best moment, I'll admit." The vampire admits bashful again as she hides behind her grimy blonde hair. Really the only indicator besides the woman's sickly appearance that gave any hint of just how long she'd been held portioner before Willow herself had been dragged into her cell. "As I've said I'm not like a majority of my kind. I prefer not fighting when I'm able, but at least I made him feel every bit of pain he cause me by taking her away before I ended him."

"So, you say you're a cat person does that mean you kill Bagheera's mom, then?" Willow questions by way of simi changing the subject.

For the first time (at least that she can remember what with being knocked out at the time) since she'd been dragged into the cell something akin to anger flashed in the chained vampire's darkened eyes. "I was a Wiccan before I was turned into what I am and despite losing both my coven and my soul to this condition I don't harm black cats. Large or small. The only reason I prefer a more carnivore-based blood diet is because those animals taste more akin to human blood thus proving a better blood substitute for my vampiric appetite."

Despite not have made a move toward her Willow stumbles backward a few steps at the show of aggression before she finds her voice once more. "Y—you're a witch too?"

Amusement replaces the anger as the blonde's eyebrow raised "Does that surprise you?" she probes as blue eyes lift again toward the magic binding ruins carved into the walls.

Willow's head was spinning at just how quickly the blonde could go from skin-crawling anger to cool and collected in less than a second.

"I didn't know a vampire could be anything other than well you know a - a vampire." Willow shrugged her eyes once again finding a few of the glowing ruins on the walls overhead. Now is made since why they'd been laced in silver.

"You do now." The blonde comments.

They lapsed into silence after then with Willow curled up on one side while the curious blonde vampire remained squeezed into her corner on the other.

"I've only ever had human blood once in my new life." Willow looks up having thought the quiet blonde had slipped into what passed for sleep to vampires. "My sire thought it would be- amusing if for my first vampire meal I took the life of the leader of my coven." She goes on once she noticed she had regained Willow's attention in quiet prodding for more information. "I tried to resist of course but well…."

"The sire bond is intense huh?" Willow guesses

"It's deeper than anything you could ever imagine." Blue eyes are glazed as she speaks. "I was powerless to say no to her. The slightest whim even that one….."

"And your- your sire forced you to feed?" the blonde nodes meekly "That's-that's horrible." Willow knew her words didn't come close to describing the idea but in the moment, they were all she could think of to say.

The blonde scoffs "That wasn't the worst of it actually." Willow paled not knowing what else could be worse than being forced to kill the head of one's own coven until the next words fell from the vampire's lips "My coven elder-the one she ordered me to kill-she was also my mother."

Willow's eyes widened even more "As in-" she stammered.

"As in." CSV echoed with a saddened expression.

Willow had already crossed the space between them and had wrapped the other woman in a comforting embrace before her mind caught up with her body's movements. she could tell opening up was painful, yet she wanted to know more. Lucky for her, her cellmate didn't seem at all in the mood to end her tragic tale just yet.

The vampire's arms snaked around her back returning the embrace while the blonde seemed to have quickly made herself comfortable in the circle of Willow's arms. Her head nestled under the auburn-haired Wicca's chin as she continued her story. "That was why she fought so hard to protect me…why my maker decided to turn me in the first place after she'd finally found out where I was being safeguarded."

Willow's arms tighten reflectively around the body between them earning an affectionate hum from the sudden kitten-like vampire whilst pale fingers traced up the insides of one of Willow's wrists.

"My mother she….she had a lot of power….like you." Blue eyes find surprised hazel ones. "I wasn't as powerful as her by any means, but Mother was always more protective of me since I was the only one between my brother and me that showed any talent when it came to the craft."

"I bet brother dearest didn't like that so much." Willow guessed just by the tone she's used when speaking about him.

"He'd play nice around Mother but let's just say when she wasn't around the men of my family acted as if my connection to the Goddess was more a sign of the devil and took great delight in beating the so-called 'demon side' out of me."

Again, Willow's arms tighten around the vampire as if that alone could undo every bad thing that had happened to her in her more human years.

"That was actually how She found us...found me that night. My brother was having another of his 'expelling the demon' sessions but really it was just his way of expelling his anger at my continued upheaval in having to put his life on hold to provide me protection. She smelled my blood…..If it wasn't for her he would surely have killed me that night."

"How old were you?" Willow asks "When your maker-you know."

"21 human years."

"And when was this?"

The blonde in her arms snickered a little before answering "Time wasn't exactly measured then as it is now, but it has been a few hundred centuries.'

"So safe to say you've seen things huh?" Willow muses twisting a few strands of unwashed blonde hair around her fingers.

"Humm a few major historical events yes." The vampire agrees relaxing even more under Willow's light caresses. "I even tried to save the Titanic but another more aristocratic vampire on the ship knocked me out after realizing just how much of a threat I was to his plans on sinking the ship."

"Titanic had vampires on board?"

Even though she couldn't see her face Willow knew just by her tone that a smug grin had curled CSV's lips. "It takes a lot more than human strength and determination to keep a ship that grand going once we'd reached open water."

Willow didn't bother asking how she knew. Despite only knowing her a few days Willow could easily see this delicate girl posing as an able-bodied young man to put in the work in keeping the fires of the ship's engines burning.

"It wasn't an easy job even for a vampire such as myself." She says proving Willow's suspicions. "But it did make me feel useful for a time."

The electrical beeping of the door's keypad bringing an end to the impromptu backstory unpacking, yet instead of what had become a routine of the signal for Willow's supper time the door itself was opened up instead of the almost comforting rattle of the much smaller 'food flap' as Willow had come to calling it.

The two prisoners had just finished making themselves a little less smugly when the black-dressed guard steps in

"Time for Red to earn her keep." The guard announces.

Willow's stomach dropped into her toes despite the odd sense of familiarity with the new arrival the same time the young man stumbled back at the animal snarl that followed when CSV moved into a more defensive stance at Willow's shoulder with a threatening "You aren't taking her." triggering another guard to step into sight weapon drawn and pointing directly toward the chest of the grumpy looking vampire.

"Don't," Willow begged stepping between them. "I'll go with you just don't hurt her."

Something akin to disgusted amusement flickered across the man's face "Don't tell us you've actually developed feelings for this….thing."

This time it's Willow that attacks first, her fist connecting hard with the other man's face enough that she felt the satisfying crack of his nose against her hand.

"Tara." CSV says curling back into her corner as more guards swarm in also carrying weapons as the first pounced on Willow.

"Huh?" the struggling Wicca wondered trying to get a glimpse of her cellmate past the added mass of black-dressed men between them.

"You've been wondering about my name." the vampire clarifies as Willow was dragged back to her feet her arms now bound painfully tight behind her back with a new stronger kind of magic dampening restraints. "It's Tara."

"Tara." Willow smiles testing the moniker out on her tongue as she was taken out of her cell. "Such a pretty name."