Author: Kay Tee maybeshedoes@yahoo.com
Distribution: Take it, but tell me where so I can visit.
Rated: Hard R, for violent violence, ugly words, mention of nonconsensual sex, and more child beheading.
Category: Series
Original Character Warning
Spoilers: Barely for 'Reptile Boy,' other parts of the series will correspond to other episodes, pretty much in order.
Disclaimer: In my dreams I'm Joss, but during the day I have to face the cold hard truth-- I'm a hack who steals characters. But I'm not giving them back! Or I am, just don't sue me, all I have are speeding tickets and student loans.
Summary: Spike can't take care of Druscilla all by himself, so he gets himself a slave to help. Eve learns that Sunnydale is a freaky place.
Author's notes: I don't know where to get transcripts of the episodes, so I'm doing my best with what I remember from the show. Don't hurt me.
More notes: The book mentioned here is from part 2.
***
"I know you're watching me, so just come out," Eve ordered the graveyard.
Angel hesitated. How did she do that?
Eve clutched the shovel as a weapon. This town really gave her the creeps, and she was sure that there had been someone watching her the last couple of nights. She scanned the shadows and her eyes fell on the tall dark man as he stepped into the moonlight. No, not a man-- a vampire.
Eve dropped the shovel and whipped out her stake. "Okay, now that we've met," she called out to the vampire, "we can both just go about our business, huh?"
Angel was at her side before she saw him move. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead now." His voice was cold, expressionless.
Eve took a step back, avoiding the grave that she had dug up again to add two new bodies to the growing pile.
"You're not..." she trailed off when she saw a small movement out of the corner of her eyes. One of Druscilla's snacks was waking up. "Shit." Somehow Druscilla always knew when one of her minions was dusted, so they had to be killed before they woke.
Eve dropped to a crouch and staked the child-vamp before he could wake fully. Just as she feared, he turned to dust. "Fuck," she muttered, and then she was back on her feet, facing the tall vampire, who hadn't moved.
"You smell human," he looked confused.
"Am human," Eve cautiously tucked the stake back in her waistband, and, keeping an eye on the unmoving vamp before her, she reached for her shovel.
Angel watched with interest as Eve beheaded the second child. He reared straight up and let loose a high-pitched wail before going limp. "You seem to have had practice with that," Angel commented off-handedly.
Eve glared up at him. "What do you want?" She asked slowly, over-pronouncing every syllable. She pushed her untied hair back from her head in an unconscious expression of stress.
Angel's eyes jumped to her neck and away again before he could stop them. Some habits are really hard to break. Eve watched as surprise ran across the vampire's face. His eyes darted back to her neck, to the mark that Druscilla had given her years ago.
As recognition settled on the vampire's face, Eve realized who he was. "You're Angelus," she whispered, backing away again.
"I go by Angel, actually," he said conversationally. "And you're Druscilla's." He tilted his head to look at the lovely bite mark of his youngest childe.
"That is really disconcerting," Eve remarked.
Angel looked the human in the eye, but was unapologetic. "I know," he smirked.
Eve edged by him, Druscilla had been babbling about her sire ever since Eve had met the vampiress, but the latest tales she had been hearing were whimpers about how 'bad' he was nowadays, refusing to kill, and helping the slayer. Eve glanced at her watch. She had to figure out a way to get back to the warehouse without being followed; Spike allowed her to leave for just long enough to do her work; she didn't have time to chat. Eve told Angel as much as she rolled the body into the grave. She tapped the kid's head in with her bare toe.
Angel frowned into the grave. "Why did you dig the same one up? Why not start a new one? There's arms... and... heads... everywhere."
Eve glared at the vampire. "You want to tell me how to do this? It's more inconspicuous this way, plus, the dirt's loose now."
She watched Angel watch her for a moment before asking, "Are you just gonna stand there all night?"
Angel shrugged.
"Oh, okay, then could you go away please?" Eve implored him. She needed him to get out of there. "Please?"
Angel took a step back and studied the girl. She was afraid, but not of him, and not to the point of losing control. "Why do they let you move freely?" He had to know what this girl was up to. She had the mark of a slave, but wore no chains, and had no escort.
Eve raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "This is not leisure time." Seeing that Angel expected a more elaborate answer, she continued. "Sometimes he sends a vamp to watch me, but mostly, he trusts me to do what he says."
"You mean Spike," Angel stated. His calm was beginning to irritate Eve. "Spike would never trust a slave."
Eve flinched at the last word, answering one of Angel's questions. She turned to look at the mangled and decaying bodies of Druscilla's kids. "We have an understanding," she murmured. "I'm going to do what I have to do now. You can go away or stay, I really don't care."
She lowered herself to her knees, clutched her hands under her chin, bent her head, and closed her eyes. Angel listened to the brush of her lips moving, but no words came out. After a long moment, Eve stood up and moved to the shovel.
Angel sat on a nearby tombstone and watched as she filled in the grave. He really had no clue how to speak with people. At least this one was used to vampires. He glanced at the clear sky-- an old gesture-- he no longer asked for guidance when he looked up.
"So," he decided to just start talking and see what he said. "How long have you known Spike and Dru?"
Eve looked up from her work, her face clearly stating that Angel was out of his mind. Considering her background, Angel figured that she wouldn't be that uncomfortable with crazy vampires. "Little over two years," Eve answered finally, returning to her work.
"Since you were..." Angel tried to gauge the girl's age. She was obviously a teenager, but if he judged by her eyes, he would guess that she was fifty. Still, studying her face, Angel noticed that Eve was quite beautiful. She had gentle Italian features; he guessed she probably had mixed blood, especially since her hair was obviously a natural shade of blonde. "Eighteen?" He purposely guessed a little high, trying to get this girl to correct him and talk about herself.
Eve only glanced at him for a second, not slowing in her work. "Sixteen. They- we met a week before my birthday, so you might as well say seventeen."
Angel nodded. So, umm... "You sound like you're from the North East."
"Maine."
"Maine? I haven't been there in a while... pretty country."
Eve stood up and looked at Angel incredulously. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?" She demanded.
Actually, no. Angel knew what this girl was up to. She obviously wasn't evil. And he knew that he should follow her home, but if he knew where his offspring lived, then he would feel duty-bound to stake them. Some small part of Angel knew he couldn't do that. Before he could stop himself, he was telling all of this to Eve.
When the vampire stopped talking, he looked intensely uncomfortable. Eve had to bite her lip to keep from smirking. "Spike told me you talked too much," she remarked as she went back to shoveling dirt onto the grave.
"I'm a talker," Angel deadpanned. He tried to think of something more to say as Eve finished her work.
She put the shovel on her wheelbarrow, and glanced self-consciously at Angel. Taking a deep breath, she stood over the grave and folded her hands under her chin.
"I thought you prayed already," Angel said quietly.
"That was for them," Eve answered, "this is for me."
***
When she finished her prayer and straightened up, Angel asked, "Why don't you run away? You don't have to be this..." He wasn't sure what he wanted to say. He just knew that here was a soul to be saved.
Eve sighed loudly. "I don't think about it very much, but there was a day, a few months after they took me, when I became theirs. I can't ever go back now." Angel nodded encouragingly, and Eve glanced around the graveyard before continuing.
"They already had a slave when they picked me up. She had been a nurse at some hospital, she didn't speak English very well, she sounded... Austrian? Dru didn't really like her very much. Spike said that she would train me, with his... help... and then I'd replace her. I didn't realize that meant she would die. I thought they were gonna let her go."
Eve was staring at Angel's shoes as she told her story. Such shiny shoes. She shifted her weight on the damp grass. "I think, I don't know, she thought that if she killed me, then they'd keep her. She'd live." Eve glanced up at Angel's face, and then turned her attention back to his shoes.
"Spike was there, the night she came after me with a knife" I don't know how long he watched before he..."
"Go on," Angel murmured.
Eve hesitated. It wasn't that she was traumatized or anything, and she certainly didn't want to appear weak, but she was a little embarrassed. "I heard her coming in the dark. I trusted her, you know, we were in the same situation and all... I can't say how I knew to roll away, I just felt it." Eve fingered an ugly scar on her left arm absently.
"She slashed at me a little bit. I tried to stop her. I don't know, we ended up standing, she was behind me, and I was holding her arms, trying to keep her from bringing the knife closer to my throat. I guess, I don't know why I did it. I, well, I bit her. There was nothing else, so I just turned my head and... bit her. On the neck, where the scar was. Just ripped through as much as I could." Eve checked Angel's reaction before continuing.
"Anyway, she let go of me, we struggled some more... we were just a couple of girls. Well, she was a lot older. Middle aged even. Maybe that's why... I was faster? When she jumped on top of me, I turned her wrist, and the knife went right into her."
Eve took another deep breath. "And then Spike turned the light on. He, well, we... well, he was nicer after that. As long as I'm good, he won't hurt me."
Eve watched the vampire's face from under hooded lids. Spike had been delighted at the carnage that his slaves had created. He had licked Myrna's blood from Eve's chin before spinning the teen around. On her hands and knees, she never even thought to struggle as he unbuttoned her jeans. The whole situation had been so surreal anyway. Since she didn't fight the first time, it felt pointless to fight on the other occasions that Spike approached her.
"I can get you away," Angel said at last.
"I don't want to get away," Eve explained, "I'm one of them. Family... In a fucked up kinda way."
"You're joking, right?" Angel was on his feet and grabbing Eve's arm.
She stared blankly into his face. "They are what I've got. It's not great, but sometimes it's okay."
Angel just gazed at her with complete disbelief. Why would anyone want to be a slave?
"You take care of them for a few years, tell me you don't feel some affection..." Eve stopped when Angel smiled. He had that deeply nostalgic darkness in his eyes that Eve had come to associate with immortals. "Okay, good. So you know what I mean."
Angel didn't release her arm. "Look," she tried to check her watch, "I have to get back."
Angel blinked a few times and nodded, letting go of his monster grip on Eve. She grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and hurried away, but heard his voice when he promised, "We're going to talk again."
***
Spike walked into the bathroom at the top of the warehouse, where the offices were. Eve sat slumped over the tub, washing her clothes.
Her back was starting to turn purple-- one enormous bruise. "I'm sorry I had to beat you," he sighed. He knew he shouldn't be sorry, but he was, so he said so.
Eve turned her head and smiled through a black eye and a spit lip. "I've been digging the graves and then cutting the heads off," she explained.
Spike sat on the rim of the tub next to his slave, "Well, let's try something different then."
Eve nodded. "Is she all right?" Druscilla had been wailing furiously about her dead baby when Eve returned to the warehouse. She was surprised that all she got was a beating.
"She'll be fine," Spike stared at the water. "We need to find a cure soon," he whispered.
Eve dropped her laundry and touched Spike's hand gently. "There are some interesting hints in that book I got."
"Vamp mythology?" Spike frowned.
"It mentions a ritual to heal a weakened vampire."
Spike looked up at Eve with a painful degree of hope in his eyes. She shook her head. "I didn't really understand it... but maybe... give it to Dalton. He seems to know... stuff."
"You've been socializing with the minions?" Spike asked incredulously.
Eve shrugged, "Dalton's not so bad. Actually, I don't get him. He only even eats twice a week. It's like he's not a real vampire."
Spike nodded in agreement, "He's a wanker, but he's smart. You get that book to him." He rose to leave. "Eve?"
"Yeah?" She turned to look up at her master.
He frowned at the girl. She had bathed, and her wet hair was pulled away from her head. When she was freshly cleaned like this, she was beautiful, the bruises flowering across her face making her all the more lovely. Eve had small, almond-shaped, brown eyes, with little flecks of gold in them. She had told him once that her friends said her eyes looked yellow in the sun. It was the only time she had ever mentioned her life before she met him.
She had small features-- a slightly bent Roman nose, a tiny mouth, with slightly swollen lips even when she hadn't been beaten recently...
He leaned in and kissed the girl, ran his tongue along the split in her lip, then delved into her mouth to taste more blood. Eve was startled and didn't respond, but she didn't pull away either.
After a moment, Spike pulled away, frowning in confusion at his slave. She had a wide face, a sharp jawbone, and barely defined cheekbones. Across her right cheek were three fading slash marks-- over a year old-- from the night that Eve had saved Druscilla's life.
Besides the scars, Eve's skin was flawless. Her hair was pushed back to reveal a high forehead with a slight widow's peak.
Eve watched Spike study her face. When his eyes met hers, she raised an eyebrow. "Right," Spike said brusquely, "when you finish here, you can go to bed. There's work to do tomorrow. I want you to pick up some televisions at the local..." he waved his hand, "whatever. They're not open at night, and you need to get instructions on how to set them up. Clear?"
Eve nodded, all business, even in her nudity. "Right. I'll need money."
Spike dropped a wallet into her lap and walked out of the bathroom. Eve opened the worn leather folder and checked the driver's license. Mark Carroll. She smiled at the name, then tossed the wallet on the ground and turned to rinse her clothes.
It had taken all of the time Spike had allowed Eve to get the televisions and the ceiling stand that would hold them, load them into the DeSoto, and unload them back at the warehouse. She had hoped to do some shopping-- maybe get some real food, a change of clothes-- but Spike had taken the wallet back while Eve was playing with the wires to connect the televisions.
She looked up at the screens as they broadcast the evening news, something about a fraternity house being shut down. Very dull.
"Spike," she asked, "do you think I could go out for a little while?"
He lit a cigarette and handed it to Eve, then lit another for himself. "No."
She didn't argue, just headed into their bedroom where Druscilla was playing with her dolls. "Dru?" Eve asked, "Would you like me to read you your story?"
"A story," the vampiress breathed. "Yes yes! Tell me the story."
Eve walked to her bedroll and produced Earthquake Weather. Walking back to the bed, she opened the book to page 65, where they had left off the previous afternoon. "No!" Druscilla shouted, tearing the book out of Eve's hands and tossing it back to the sleeping bag. "Tell me."
Eve sat down on the bed. "I haven't read that one before, Dru. I don't know what happens."
"Tell me."
"Dru-"
The vampiress's high-pitched wail brought Spike pounding down the stairs. When he reached his love's side, he was surprised to see her smiling as Eve related the story of Rupunzel, the princess with long hair who never went outside during the day. "Bloody Hell." He rolled his eyes at both of them and stalked back up into the warehouse.
***
Xander was grumbling unhappily under his breath as he walked away from The Bronze, but he still heard the sounds of a struggle coming from a nearby alley.
Clutching his stake nervously in one hand, he turned into the alley to save... whoever from... whatever.
And there was the mysterious Miss Eve Jones. A female vampire held the girl in the air by her throat, and both were obviously enraged. The vampiress looked beaten, and her shirt was torn where one of her broken ribs jutted out from her chest.
Xander's eyes darted between the two; he figured this proved that Eve wasn't the new super-evil in town.
The girl's hand shot out to the vampire's wound, tearing the rib, and some of the breastbone it was attached to, further away from the vampire's body.
Before Xander could wonder what Eve hoped to accomplish with that while she was being choked to death, the girl shoved a fist up into the wound. The vampiress gasped in surprise, and Eve tore her arm back out, clutching the heart of her enemy.
As Eve fell to the ground when the vampire disintegrated into dust, Xander leapt into action, or babbling, either way...
"So... that was interesting. Never knew you could kill one with your bare hands."
Eve glanced at her fingernails, then down at her blood drenched t-shirt, "I wouldn't recommend it," she muttered, refusing Xander's proffered hand, and standing up.
He watched as she searched the trash of the alleyway, eventually producing a stake that must have been lost in the fight, and tucking it into her back pocket. "So, you're not evil, but you might have super powers?" He guessed.
Eve smirked, "Wrong on both." She looked down at herself with distaste. "I just had a bath yesterday. I can"t believe this town. You know you guys have more than one clan of vampires? In the same town! It's..."
"Totally inconsiderate," Xander finished for her.
Eve grinned. "I know, really." She walked by Xander, heading out of the alley and down the street.
"So, let me just clarify. You're evil. But you don't have super powers," Xander said, jogging to catch up to the girl.
"Wrong on both," Eve smiled slyly. "Okay, I don't have super powers, but I'm really good at not getting killed."
"So I noticed," Xander commented dryly. "And where are we going now?"
"Here." Eve walked through an unmarked door, followed by Xander. They tromped down a staircase, and straight into... hell. At least as far as Xander could tell. The place looked like a bar, there was a man behind the counter serving drinks, but all his customers were demons.
Xander scanned the room, looking for other humans. He found himself pressing close to Eve. "What are we doing here?" He asked nervously.
"Evie!" The man behind the counter smiled and produced a case of Jack Daniels.
"Willie!" Eve answered with mock-enthusiasm. She pulled a wad of cash out of her pocket and handed the whole thing to the bartender.
"Oh..." Xander nodded his head, "I see what's going on here. It's an evil bar. It sells beer to under-age girls."
Eve barely glanced at Xander as she hoisted the case onto her shoulder. "It's a sanctuary-- demons can come here and not kill each other for a while. The bar doesn't sell me anything, Willie does," she nodded towards the bartender who was counting the cash. "And it's not beer," she pointed to the words on the box, "it's whiskey."
"'Kay, Eve, we're all set," Willie announced, distracted, as he looked Xander up and down. "New guy?"
"New guy," Eve answered, winking at Xander.
Angel paced impatiently near Eve's gravesite. He had been busy saving Buffy the night before, so he'd missed the slave. Now she wasn't coming. He sighed. She probably had a new site at a different graveyard. It would make sense for her to try to avoid him.
He just liked the girl. He felt comfortable talking to her. He snorted in disappointment; this was pathetic. Angel remembered the last time he let a human know him-- forty years ago-- and how well that worked out. He had carefully guarded himself around Buffy, but maybe it was time to open up to her. Angel shook his head and ran a hand across his face; he had to stop reading psychology textbooks.
When he looked up again, he saw her-- Eve. She was pushing a wheelbarrow with a jumble of small bodies and a shovel in it.
He stepped towards her immediately, and was almost staked. "You seem..." He took in the bruises on Eve's face and neck, and the blood-- not hers-- on her shirt, "...a little tense."
She glared at him and dumped the bodies of three children on the ground. "How many is that, now?" Angel asked.
Eve shook her head and brought the edge of the shovel down on the neck of the first boy. He grabbed his head and screamed before falling limp again. "I don't know, but if Dru doesn't cut it out, people are gonna start saying something, doesn't matter if they find the bodies or not." She cut off the head of the next boy. Nothing happened. "Hmm," she studied him for a moment before moving on to the last child. "I'm starting to get that this is not a normal town." Crunch! The last one wailed loudly before going still. "Anywhere else, and we'd be getting lynched already."
She looked up at Angel curiously, and he moved to sit on his tombstone. He watched in silence as Eve leaned over the boy who hadn't been turned-- whose shirt wasn't drenched in blood from the beheading-- and tried to push his arms up over his head. Rigor mortis had already set in, and she had to hold one of his legs in her arm while she used her foot to bend his arm up. Dropping the body, she walked around him to do the same on the other side.
She sat him up while she pulled his blue and gray baseball shirt off of him. Eve held the shirt up to her body; it looked like it might fit. Keeping her back to Angel, she took off the ruined Minnie Mouse t-shirt and tried on the boy's shirt. It was tight, but it would do.
She switched back into the Minnie Mouse so she could dig the grave. The sound of Angel's snarls made her turn around before she could get the pink shirt on. "Wha-"
"Your back." He growled, and his eyes flickered with yellow while he tried to maintain his composure. The bruises on her neck were fresh, he was guessing they were inflicted by whatever was spread on Eve's shirt in the form of blood and dust. Her back testified to a beating, recent, but not as recent as the fight that resulted in the neck contusion. Now that he looked at her face, those bruises were older too...
Eve blushed. "It's a little bruised, nothing bad." She put the Minnie Mouse shirt on quickly, keeping an eye on the vampire before her.
"'Nothing bad...'" He eyes traveled down her torso before the shirt could cover it. "And your ribs... Don't they feed you?" He had never actually kept a human, and really didn't know how to maintain one. He couldn't imagine Spike or Druscilla doing a very good job of it.
Eve smiled sheepishly, "After I finish with this, I'm gonna go see if I can find something to eat. This town is a pain in my ass. No 7-11s, nothing open after ten except that dance place..." She shook her head with mock disbelief. "I don't know how these people can live here."
Angel watched with wide eyes as the girl shrugged off his concern and began to dig.
***
Eve stretched and yawned as she meandered home. Spike had given her plenty of time to get her chores done. She had stashed the JD near the bodies, gotten rid of Xander, picked up the bodies, buried them, gotten herself a new shirt, gone back for the liquor, and was wheeling it home.
She picked up the wheelbarrow handles and continued. It was nearly dawn, but in the warehouse district there was no sunrise, no horizon visible between buildings. The sky just got lighter and lighter until it was undeniably daytime.
Eve thought about Angel, the vampire with a soul. He had spent the evening confessing to her. He told her about his life, and his time with his sire when he was first turned. He talked about his two other childer, Penn and Lucy, who he had not heard from in over a century. He related the story of his life right up until he was cursed. Then he grew quiet and told Eve about killing Darla.
The slave hadn't said anything, just listened and 'hmmed' when he paused. It seemed like Angel had a lot to get off his chest.
Eve wondered if he felt better or worse now. She shrugged. She would see him again.