Author: Kay Tee maybeshedoes@yahoo.com
Distribution: Take it, but tell me where so I can visit.
Rated: R, for cursing, killing, and sexual overtones.
Category: Series
Original Character Warning
Spoilers: Lots for 'Halloween,' 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 is allowed to go trick-or-treating...
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.
***
"Here it is," Eve handed Spike the camcorder he'd sent her to buy. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Um, see, I was wondering if I could maybe use the rest of the cash?" She bounced on her toes.
Spike smirked. "Why, Eve," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "what could you possibly want to buy?"
They both looked down at the girl's bare feet. "Actually? A, um, Halloween costume."
Spike's eyes shot up to Eve's face. "A Halloween costume." He frowned at her. They had spent two other Halloweens together, but this request was new.
"Well, yeah. I didn't even know what time of year it was, 'cause the weather here is so fucked up, but then I saw a pumpkin stand, and I haven't gone trick-or-treating in forever, and you guys aren't gonna do anything Tuesday night anyway, so, um, what do you say?"
Spike watched Eve bounce on her toes again. He frowned. She was getting too used to her freedom. His arm shot out and grabbed her ear, twisting it.
Eve winced in pain, but did not say a word.
"What exactly do you think you are?" He asked cruelly. "Do you think you're a real person? Only real people go out on Halloween." He twisted more, until he could feel the skin under his fingers start to pull; if he wanted to, he would rip Eve's ear right off.
"No," she tried to control her voice, but Spike could hear the tension in her throat that was the precursor to tears.
He pulled her close to his mouth, "Then what are you, pet?"
"I-I'm a slave. Just a slave," Eve whimpered.
Spike released her. "Good, just making sure." He peeled two twenties off the stack of bills. "Get a good costume," he winked at Eve and shooed her away.
At the door, she turned and smiled at him, though her eyes were wet with unshed tears. "Thank you, Spike," she said, then scampered away before he changed his mind.
Druscilla walked up behind the bleached vampire. "You spoil her," she murmured in her musical voice.
Spike turned and wrapped his arms around the vampiress. He kissed her neck. "She's yours, what do you want to do with her?"
Druscilla licked the side of Spike's head, grinning with near-lucidity. "Let's play," she giggled.
***
"Wait. Angel," Eve straightened in the grave that she was re-digging, "You want me to give you advice about the slayer?"
"Well," he shifted uncomfortably on his usual tombstone, "she's a girl. And you're a girl..."
"And you're a creature of the night," Eve finished. She continued to dig, "Look, from what you said, I don't think it's a problem with you. She's embarrassed." Eve looked up at the vampire she was starting to think of as a friend.
"She showed up at your date looking all... ugly."
"She wasn't ugly, I don't think she could ever be ugly." Angel's whole countenance softened into what Eve had come to think of as 'Buffy-face.'
"I know," Eve said, though she didn't know, having never actually met the slayer. "But she felt ugly. And she thinks she let you down. And you were with that other girl-"
"She came up to me!" Angel defended himself.
"Look," Eve stood up, resting on her shovel, "you didn't do anything wrong. You just didn't do anything right either."
Angel thought about that for a minute. "So what you're saying is..."
"You have to make her feel good about herself."
Angel shook his head. "I tried, I told her she was beautiful, she didn't care."
Eve chuckled quietly. "It's not just about the words. When you see her, give her a good look, like you can't believe she's with you. It's more about your eyes than your words. And kiss her. Stop dragging your damn heels, you're making her feel resistible."
Angel frowned, "So what you're saying is... I have no idea what you're saying."
Eve grinned. "You're crazy about this girl, right?" Angel shrugged non-committedly. "Well, you want her. Make sure she knows. If she's feeling all insecure, things are just gonna get... uncomfortable."
Angel nodded, not really understanding.
"Of course, you realize that I haven't had a date in over two years, so I'm no expert." Eve smiled.
"Yeah, about that." Angel leaned forward. "You always let me talk, but you never tell me anything about yourself."
"I know," Eve started digging again, "I feel like your therapist." She glanced up at Angel to make sure he wasn't misinterpreting her words. His face was completely blank. But Eve had learned the many different varieties of blank-face in the last couple of weeks, and this one was stubbornness. She sighed, "Ask me a question, I'll tell you anything you want until I get to the bottom. Then your time is up."
Angel smiled, not a genuine grin, but edging in that general direction.
"What's your real name?"
Eve gave him a sharp look. "It's Eve now. Ask a different question."
Her cold tone forced Angel to back off that subject. But that still answered one question he had about the girl's identity. Eve was not her birth name. He sighed, thinking. "What's your favorite color?" He stalled.
Eve glanced at him and shook her head, smiling, but continued to dig. "Green. Dark green. What's yours?"
Angel looked down at himself. He was wearing a black blazer with a white t-shirt, black slacks, and a pair of shiny black shoes. "Actually, I really like gray." When Eve raised an eyebrow at his confession, Angel continued, "I just can't wear it." He almost-grinned, "It doesn't go with my complexion."
"How would you know?" Eve deadpanned from her hole.
Angel frowned at the girl; she had a way of changing the subject without his noticing. He would just have to change it back.
"Do you have-- Did you have-- people you care-- cared about... in Maine?" He clumsily tried to word the question so that Eve would actually answer it.
She paused in her digging, and then answered without looking up. "I had a mother and a brother and a sister and a boyfriend. They were all the people I ever loved."
"And they're... dead?"
Eve glanced up at that. "They're alive, as far as I know."
Angel was surprised. When he was evil, he would have... but Spike was different. "What are they like?" He asked quietly.
Eve sighed. "My sister and brother were cool. Really friendly, happy people. Linda was always the peacemaker, always trying to make life bearable. Jack was just a goof. But in a good way. My mom... was really unhappy. But I loved her anyway. Everybody hurts everybody else. All you can do is love a person."
Angel thought about all the things Eve wasn't saying. "She had a bad temper?" He prompted.
Eve shrugged. "Nothing compared to Spike and Dru, but..." She straightened and rolled up the sleeve of her baseball shirt, showing Angel the underside of her left arm. Three half moon scars showed where someone had dug their fingernails into Eve's flesh. Rolling the sleeve back down, she returned to her digging. "Mom had a tough life. Having kids just made it tougher."
Angel frowned. "What about your boyfriend?"
A small smile flickered across Eve's face. "He was... beautiful. And sweet. He was innocent. He always said he was gonna be a rock star when he grew up, but I'd bet he'd end up as a teacher." She frowned. "He loved me. I think that was mostly why I was with him. I just couldn't be as good for him as he was for me." She shook the memory off.
"Why do you talk about them in the past tense if they're still alive?" Angel probed gently.
Eve took a deep breath, "I'm never gonna see them again. It's all past for me." While Angel thought about that, she added, "I'm almost through, ya got any other pressing questions, better ask 'em now."
"What did you want to be? When you grew up?"
She paused again, and then smiled at him. "A writer. Novelist, or playwright, or maybe a screenwriter. Or I could have written for a newspaper, movie reviews or something. I would have written romance novels, I didn't care."
Before Angel could respond, she whispered sadly, "I just like to tell stories."
Eve's shovel sliced into the skull of one of the children she had buried earlier. She stared down at the maggots worming their way through the little girl's nose. Eve was glad she'd been able to pick up another pair of Keds; she hated being barefoot in this pit.
She hopped out of her hole. "And that is the end of the twenty questions." She flashed a false smile at Angel and pushed the body of Druscilla's latest victim into the grave.
***
Spike had been watching Eve try to put on the contacts for the last fifteen minutes. "Oh, give me that," he finally grumbled.
The slave pouted at him, "I don't think people are meant to do this without a mirror."
He held the orange contact between his thumb and forefinger, trying not to lose the slippery thing. "I don't think people are meant to wear these at all." He tilted Eve's head back and put her contact in with a minimum of trouble. He stared at her a moment before she handed him the container with the other contact. "Why do you want orange eyes?" He had to ask.
"They didn't have yellow," Eve answered slyly.
"Bugger," Spike cursed as he dropped the second contact on her cheek. After a few minutes and false starts, Eve had two orange eyes.
Grinning at Spike, she turned to her bag and pulled out a set of false vampire teeth. He watched with disinterest as she arranged the teeth in her mouth.
"You're a vampire," he said flatly.
Eve grinned. "I got them at this new store in the center of town, 'Ethan's.' It was so cool. Also, very expensive. But the guy gave me a deal on the contacts. He was really nice."
"Uh huh." Spike sized her up. She wasn't very vamply. Sighing, he rose and grabbed their duffel bag, producing the new pair of black jeans that Eve had bought him. "Put these on." She raised an eyebrow, but obeyed, sliding the tight pants on. "Take your shirt off," Spike ordered, and then flung one of his red silk dress shirts at Eve. She put his clothes on and looked down at her feet. She had enjoyed one day in her new shoes before Druscilla had thrown them on the fire.
Spike also scowled at her feet. "Bugger it, I'm not going anywhere."
Eve watched in shock as Spike removed his docs and handed them to her. She took them numbly, but made no move to put them on. "You don't want them?" He asked.
Eve quickly sat down and pulled Spike's boots on. She ran her fingers lightly over the worn leather. "You're sure?"
Spike snorted. "Yeah, now get outta here before I change my mind."
Eve smiled, showing her plastic vampire teeth. She kissed her master on the cheek before darting up the stairs and out of the room.
***
Spike felt very silly. Druscilla said that the slayer was going to be weak tonight, but he couldn't fight her barefoot. The silly bint would probably be wearing heels. He could just imagine what one would feel like going through his foot.
He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, trying to pick up Eve's trail.
An hour later, he found her sitting on the swing at the park, sucking on a ring pop while still wearing her vamp teeth.
Eve started when she saw her master coming towards her. It had been dark for less than two hours...
"Gimme my boots," Spike ordered. Eve immediately bent down and started unlacing them.
"What's going o-" She dropped the boots before Spike could take them.
"Eve..." he growled, but stopped when he saw her face shift. She was actually a vampire. One minute her heart was beating, the next, cool yellow eyes had met his in horror and delight.
Behind them, there was a loud scream. Spike turned to see what was going on. Where there had been hordes of little trick-or-treaters littering the streets, there were now hordes of very short demons.
He grinned through his true teeth. "Well, this is just... neat." He turned his grin on Eve. "Hold on a mo'," he ordered, quickly putting his boots on.
He stood up and stretched. "Follow me, we'll get you something to eat, and then go find that pretty little slayer."
The two vampires walked out of the park and into the Halloween chaos.
***
Eve smiled through her fangs at the young waitress cowering outside the Starbucks(tm). The vampiress leaned towards the girl, pressing her face into her victim's neck. "Look around," she whispered. "You're going to die in the middle of the street, and no one's going to help you."
The waitress whimpered, her eyes imploring the blond man standing behind her attacker to intervene. He just grinned and winked. "Eve," he said sternly, "we've got places to be."
"I know," Eve's face did not move from the waitress's neck. She could hear the girl's blood running just beneath the skin, hear her heart pounding, and smell her fear. "People to kill."
She licked the girl's neck slowly, savoring the salt of her skin. Finally, Eve sunk her fangs into the girl's jugular, her flesh parting easily for the new vampiress.
Spike watched with heavy lidded eyes. He had never made a childe, but if Eve did not stay this way, he swore he would turn her and keep her forever. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of the waitress's fear and his own arousal filling his head. He opened his eyes when he heard the body drop to the ground.
He smiled at Eve as she walked towards him. The vampiress was genuinely amazed, "I'm not hungry anymore," she licked her teeth. "Can we do that again, Spike?"
His eyes crinkled with delight as he pulled Eve into his arms. They kissed deeply, their fangs tearing at each other's lips and tongues. Eve groaned at the taste of her master's blood. He hissed when she pressed her pelvis into his erection. Vampirism really brought out her aggressive side.
Spike pulled back. "Time for that later. Think the slayer's in the phone book?" He sauntered away, heading for the nearest telephone booth. Eve followed hungrily.
***
Giles smiled with exhaustion. He hadn't felt so satisfied since before he became a watcher. For just a moment, he was winning, and everything was good. Movement in the library roused him from his thoughts, and he walked out of his office to see Eve pushing her books into the return slot at the front counter.
She did not look very good. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her bare feet looked... like something had been chewing on them. At least she was wearing a different shirt than before. This one was a little small, but had no holes in it.
"Mr. Giles," Eve sighed, her voice tired. "I'm sorry about before."
"That's quite all right, Eve." Giles smiled at her, and she looked at him curiously. Her eyes finally fell on his bruised knuckles.
"You have an exciting Halloween?" She asked quietly.
Giles frowned. This girl had been so lively before. "Well, yes. How did you fare? I imagine that it must be hard to be... homeless? In Sunnydale."
Eve looked away. So Giles had come up with his own ideas about her situation. That was just fine by her. "I-- I was wondering if you have any more of those... exotic books that I could look at."
Giles frowned. "Eve, you are free to look at them in the library, but I can't let you take them out anymore."
Eve nodded. She would tell Spike to send one of his minions for the necessary volume.
At that moment, the doors to the library swung open, and Buffy, Willow, and Xander danced into the library, their spirits high. They all stopped when they saw Giles talking to Eve.
"Giles, she's a vampire!" Willow hissed, though Eve was standing in the middle of a beam of sunlight that streamed in through the window. "Or," Willow amended, "she was last night."
Giles turned to Eve in surprise, "You dressed up?"
She shrugged, "I missed Halloween. I'm over that now." Eve turned to the other teenagers, "I'm E-"
She gaped at Buffy, and then looked at Xander and Giles. Eve turned back to Buffy, sputtering, "You. You're the slayer."
Buffy glanced worriedly at Giles.
"H-how do you-" he started.
"I have to go," Eve said, backing out of the room and making a quick exit through the emergency door.
"That girl sure does know how to make an exit," Xander commented.
"You know her?" Willow asked.
Xander nodded. "Remember I told you I saw a girl kill a vamp with her bare hands? That was her," he nodded in the direction that Eve had left.
"Good lord," Giles exclaimed, "with her bare hands?"
Buffy shook her head. "That's not possible. At least, not for a human. Giles? I think we have some serious research to do."
The librarian nodded, but frowned in doubt. Who was this girl?
***
Eve stared forlornly at the covered grave. Spike had grabbed one of his mini-minions-- after it had turned back into a little boy-- and brought it home to feed to Druscilla.
The boy's name was Danny. He had asked Eve to please bring him home. He knew his number and address by heart, and had repeated it throughout the evening-- until Dru finally ate him.
Eve fingered his rubber mask. This was usually when she said a prayer for herself, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She had killed a woman. She had killed a woman.
Eve closed her eyes, hoping that something nasty would jump out and grab her. It had been a long time since she felt like this, but really, she had killed two women.
As she fought back her tears, Eve offered up a feeble prayer. "Please God, just kill me. Kill me before something worse happens." She sighed. "Or at least, let me make it up to you. I know there's something I can do. Just ask..." Eve chuckled mirthlessly, 'cause God was always that clear. "Just, please give me a chance to redeem myself," she finished.
She searched the graveyard. Angel was nowhere around. He had met her there every night for the past few weeks, often arriving late after a date with Buffy.
Eve rubbed her eyes. She really needed to talk to Angel.
As she pushed her wheelbarrow out of the graveyard, she tossed Danny's mask in a dumpster.
Eve took the long route home, passing through town. She stopped at a payphone and punched in the number Angel had made her memorize.
On the third ring she heard a sullen voice say, "Angel."
Eve felt her heart skip. She really hadn't expected her friend to be home at night. "Angel?" She asked, trying not to sound too weepy.
"Eve," the voice was hard. "What do you want?"
He was mad at her? "I'm sorry I helped hold you back when Spike tried to kill Buffy," she tried. "I'm sorry for that whole night. But I need to talk to you."
"Eve?" The voice softened.
"Yes?"
The cruel tone was back again, "Stop fucking around. Tell Spike he's not going to get me that easily."
Eve gasped, and took the phone away from her ear, clutching it on her chest near her shoulder. She'd never heard Angel swear before. The first friend she'd made in over two years, and he hated her. She heaved a shuddering sigh and brought the phone back to her ear. Before she could say a word, Angel spoke, his voice filled with awe. "You have a heartbeat. You're alive."
"What? Of course I'm alive."
"But you were a vampire last night," Angel said with confusion.
"Well... that was my costume. And then everybody turned into their costumes..." Eve was equally confused. She had no idea why that had happened.
"Spike let you go trick-or-treating?" Angel was starting to think this was a trick again. But he had heard the distinctive rhythm of Eve's heartbeat.
Eve sighed. She was starting to understand now. "Yeah, didn't you notice that I was wearing all his clothes?"
"Oh. I'm sorry I yelled at you," Angel said lamely.
Eve glanced at her watch. "I really need to talk to you about that... but I have to get back. I think Spike's gonna send me shoe shopping today, maybe we could meet somewhere?"
Angel smiled weakly into the phone, "I'm not really a morning person... or an any part of the day person."
"You're not a person at all," Eve quipped. "I meant we could meet somewhere dark."
Angel hesitated. "Let me give you my address. Just come here when you get the chance."
"'Kay." Eve listened while he recited his address. Having memorized it, she said, "See you soon."
"Bye. Eve?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?"
Eve considered the question. "I guess I will be."
"Did you... eat anyone?"
Eve sighed loudly. "I'll see you soon, Angel."
"All right." He waited until after she hung up before slumping on his bed. He had thought she was dead. But she wasn't, she was just...
He growled at the room. Why Eve? She was his only real friend. She wasn't attracted to him-- he would smell it, and she wasn't his ally by default, she was just a nice person who genuinely liked him. Angel swore that he would protect Eve from anything that could possibly harm her. He didn't care if she wasn't his to protect, he would find a way.
Having made that decision, he laid back to glare at the ceiling until he fell asleep.