dragonyphoenix

She'd only been dead twenty years, that night she'd stood atop a cliff, looking out to sea, her hair whipped about by the wind, Medusa-like, snakes trapped by gravity, stuck to the earth, but she wasn't, she was an “Angel.”

Solid, standing there by Gradmama, her Daddy turned at her word. As Grandmama held her hat to her head, blonde strands flying out from underneath the bonnet, Drusilla laughed. He'd thought she'd meant him.

“No, I'm the angel,” she cried out, racing off the cliff, and then past the cliff, spreading her wings  to catch the night air.

Title: Fallen at the Cold Cliff's Side

“Drusilla, no.” Angelus raced after, as if he could catch her, stopping just short of the cliff's edge.

“Drusilla, no,” Darla called out in mockery as he peered over the edge, trying, but failing Darla was sure, to spot Drusilla. “Home,” she'd added after he'd stepped back.

“We can't just leave her there.”

He couldn't be too upset, not if he hadn't slipped back into that Irish brogue she'd trained him out of. “She'll find us, sooner or later.”

He started walking toward the path that would take him down the cliff. “Are you coming or not?”

“Not.” But he could be a real bastard when crossed. “There will be food waiting,” she offered. His smirk told her that he knew what she meant. Not that the blood would heal Drusilla, which was obvious, but that she'd be amusing herself while she waited.

Where she'd been tossed against the brick wall of the alley, the young girl didn't even notice the cold, mucky puddle she was sprawled across. Her ignored please for mercy had given way, as her doom sank in, to the Lord's Prayer repeated over and over again.

“But Mummy always taught me it's bad manners to play with your food.” As disgust descended down Darla's face, Dru dropped her eyes to the ground and added, in a small whisper, “Human Mummy.”

“Mummy is dead,” Darla replied with a stern whip crack to her voice. Dru, recently turned, was too strongly tied to her human values for Darla's tastes.

“Yes Grandmama,” Dru replied.

“Don't. Call. Me. That.” Angelus smirked at her response, fascinated how his Childe could get under his Sire's skin without even trying to.

Angry and choosing to be cruel, Darla added, almost playfully. “Even you should remember it. She screamed for, how long Angel?” she asked as she stepped into his arms. “Five hours?”

He kissed her, their tongues dancing together for a long moment while Dru gave them a baleful stare. Turning and catching Dru's gaze he replied, “Six.”

“If I recall correctly, you were wailing yourself, like a banshee, towards the end,” Darla told Dru dismissively.

Angel kissed his way up Darla's throat to her ear where he whispered, “Let me take care of this.”

Darla luxuriated in his kisses for another minute before flouncing back. “I'll be in our rooms,” she told him with a smile. “Don't keep me waiting too long.”

As Darla disappeared out into the street, Angelus held his arms out to Dru, who ran over and curled herself in them like a young child. Angelus held her silently as he worked out the best way to train her but she interrupted his thoughts. “Why does Grandmama care so? About me playing with my food?”

Smiling at Dru's continued use of the name that so irritated Darla, he kissed her on the top of her forehead and replied, “She just wants you to be the best Childe you can be.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide with trust but obviously not following his meaning. “How can you learn to hunt properly if you don't play at it?” he asked gently.

Her gaze turned inwards. “Like a cat toying with a mouse?” she asked. She'd hated that as a human, the casual cruelty of cats.

“Exactly,” he said, squeezing her in an approving hug. “Now, are you ready to play a game?”

“Is it a fun game?”

“The most fun game in the whole, wide world,” he told her, tapping the tip of her nose.

Grabbing the girl, he pulled her up off the ground. “You see that doorway?” he asked, pointing her towards the back end of the allye. “The exit to the Gentleman's Club? You make it that far and we'll let you go.” The girl glanced at him and then back down the alley, gaging the distance. She gave him a quick nod. Angelus released her and she tore away.

Dru paused and turned towards Angelus. “Do I really have to let her go if she gets that far?”

Angelus shook his head. No.

With a smile, Dru chased after the girl.