Who: Darla and Kathy What: Darla finally has Kathy in her possession, and intends to take advantage of the situation. Where: The basement of Darla's lair. When: Late-evening. Rating: R, just to be safe Status: Complete!
For the first time in a very long time, things were finally going right. Deadpool had come through with his promise, and now Darla had in her possession one very small, very frightened little sister of one former Liam McAvera. Really, if the blonde vampire didn't already have plans for the child, she probably was in a good enough mood at the moment that she could very well slice her throat open and dance in her blood. However, fortunately for Kathy, Darla did have plans for her and there wasn't anything that was going to deter her from them.
Although there was nothing that said she couldn't have a little bit of fun while she waited for Angel to arrive to play the hero.
Sauntering into the basement - the smell of the girl's fear very nearly causing Darla's demonic features to surge forward - the vampire cast a lazy smirk in the child's direction. She had her tied to a chair for the time being, ropes binding her hands to each arm of the chair and legs to the two front legs. There was also a rope wrapped around her upper body, as well as one around her waist. Personally, Darla preferred chains, but they were far too big and bulky for such a little thing. So, rope it was, and it was doing the trick quite nicely if she did say so herself.
"So," she spoke after a second of simply observing the girl, "are we having fun yet?" Then she laughed a low, and sultry, sound that echoed off the walls.
The little girl was unable to keep her body from visibly shaking in panic, though she was hardly aware of that fact. All she could think of at the moment was that she had been taken from her brother, had once again failed to defend herself. Not that doing so was necessarily in her power, considering that it didn't a giant to out-strength the little girl, let alone beings of the scary, non-human variety, but even so...and now. Well, now she was certain that she would never see home, or her brother, ever again. This woman had tried to kill her once and would have likely succeeded then and there had Cordy not intervened. Now, there was nobody there to stop her.
Still, the child didn't cry, didn't plead. Frightened and desperate as she was, she had grown stubborn. Nothing would please this woman--Darla--more than a show, and she most certainly wouldn't get one. Hopefully.
When she spoke to her, Kathy raised her chin defiantly, lower lip quivering only slightly. A thousand less-than-respectful retorts came to mind, though the child was smarter than to act on any of them. Instead, she regarded the vampire darkly, dark eyes narrowing as she focused in on her.
Darla had to give her credit. The girl did have a backbone. Not that it mattered, really, but it was amusing to witness nonetheless. "Hmm," the blonde spoke again, acting as though Kathy had answered her verbally rather than simply glare. "I suppose we'll have to do something to fix that, now won't we." Ambling closer, hips swaying slightly, she paused directly in front of the girl and slowly crouched down until they were eve level.
"It's really a shame Dru isn't here," she commented softly, one finger - the nail painted blood red - going out to gently trace down her victim's cheek. "She'd have such fun with you, dressing you up, having tea parties." Laughing lightly, Darla added, "Right before she ripped out your heart and danced in your entrails, of course. She's quite the vicious little thing when she puts her mind to it."
With a fond shake of her head, she rose to her full height once more. "You have heard about Drusilla, haven't you?" she questioned idly, turning her attention to the table at her right. It was filled with all sorts of wonderful devices - knives, razors, clamps, and just about anything else that made for a fun-filled evening - and ran that same finger along the edge of the table as she continued to speak. "She's your brother's greatest creation, his most brilliant piece of work. Completely insane, of course, but capable of such delicious acts of unspeakable violence." Her eyes slid closed for a moment, a sensual smile curving her lips, before she once more looked to Kathy. Turning, one of the knives in her grasp, her smile widened.
"I'm fairly certain, once I have my boy back, that it'll be just a matter of time before she joins us again." A step closer to the girl and the blonde sighed. "But, enough about her. What do you say we get started on that fun?"
Oh, so there was the silver lining. This 'Murphy's Law' to which she had heard allusions. Her current situation did, in fact, have the possibility to be worse, should this 'Dru' have chosen to make an appearance. The mental images with which Darla had provided her turned her stomach, set her more on edge than she already was. Her eyes followed Darla's gaze down to the table, then automatically squeezed shut as she tried to forget the sight of the items there...items that she was sure were about to be used to inflict only the most horrific of pain upon her.
She opened her eyes to see one of the knives in Darla's grasp and paled, breath catching in anxiety on her attempt to inhale.
She couldn't breathe. It was as if her lungs had suddenly closed up, and this awareness only served to scare her even more as she tried in vain to gasp for air as the rest of her body continued to tremble. Still, despite the panic attack, she forced herself to hold her breath entirely, finding that after she had, it became a bit easier to take in a half-decent breath. It was a trick she had learned the first time Liam had died, when bouts of tears grew far enough out of control as to tighten her airways.
When it came to mention of her brother, she momentarily escaped from her alarm for herself, instead turning her thoughts toward her--now very human, and with all of the vulnerability that came with it--big brother.
"You'll never get 'im back," she stated aloud in spite of herself, tiny voice barely audible. "Not Liam...not again."
The girl's voice was just above a whisper, if that, but Darla heard it loud and clear. Her eyes seemed to flash for a moment, although whether in amusement or annoyance was anyone's guess, and she reached out with her free hand to pat the girl's cheek almost fondly. "Oh, you poor, deluded little thing," she cooed. "You really believe that, don't you?"
Another laugh, this one filled with pure amusement, and Darla shook her head. Her blond locks swayed with her movement, finally settling around her face as she leaned forward until she and Kathy were only inches apart. "Angelus is mine, girl," she all but hissed, the amusement replaced with a fierce look. "For over a century we ravaged the world together, side by side. I made him what he is and I will have him back again. Don't you dare think otherwise."
Leaning back so she was once more close but not too close, the vampire studied her captive for a moment before moving the knife ever closer. She let the tip trail across the girl's shoulder, to her collarbone, then upward to her throat. Twisting her wrist, she pressed the tip into the small indention beneath the girl's chin, on the underside of her jaw, and pressed just enough to prick the skin though took care not to cut too deeply.
"Your brother will come for you, and he'll come alone. He'll have no choice, be far too moved by guilt to do otherwise. And, best of all..." Her voice dropped to a veritable hiss as she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "he'll willingly offer himself in your place. So you can then spend the rest of what very short life you'll have left knowing that it was all your fault."
That was it. The vampire had officially succeeded in striking the wrong chord with the little girl. Kidnapping her, tying her to a chair, and threatening her with an array of sharp, lethal weapons was one thing, but making those implications about her brother?
"No," Kathy said sharply, wrath now beginning to replace her terror. "No. You're wrong. I'm sorry, but ye're wrong." Drawing in a shaky breath, the words continued to pour out, and it was possible that she had never before meant anything so much in her whole life. "You--you've had 'im all t'yerself for all that time. That monster, with 'is face. All that time, and I was..." she shook her head severely. "But now...Liam--Angel-- he belongs t'those that love him. He belongs t'me, an' Cordy, an'...you can't take him from us."
She gave a little gasp at the sharp sting there under her chin, closing her eyes tight.
A low growl began, deep in Darla's chest, at the girl's words. It echoed about the room, reverberated through the arm holding the knife until the vampire was left with no choice but to remove it from her chin lest she accidentally slice her wide open. With a snarl she surged to her feet and flung the blade away from her. It clattered loudly against the wall but she ignored the sound, instead opting to grasp Kathy's chin with her hand and jerk her head upward with a sharp motion.
"He is mine," she snapped, tone low and dangerous. "That boy belongs to me. I am his sire and he will respect that." Stopping herself before she could continue, she abruptly released Kathy's chin and spun away from her, slamming both hands down on the table as she lowered her head and drew in a deep, unnecessary breath. After a second, her shoulders began to shake and, an instant later, her soft laughter replaced her enraged words.
"Oh, you're good," she complimented the girl, glancing sideways at her with a smirk. "Another few words like that and I probably would have snapped that pretty little neck of yours." Of course, to Darla, the logic was simple. If she killed Kathy, Angel wouldn't come. If Angel didn't come, Kathy's words would ring true. It never occurred to her that the girl had simply been defending her brother.
Tracing her hand across the tools that remained, she at long last turned back to Kathy without a thing in her hands. With what could almost pass for an innocent expression, she clasped her hands behind her back and smiled demurely. "I think, if I can persuade Angelus to spare your life this time around, I may just give you to the minions," she said softly. "I'm sure they'd have quite a lovely time with you." Stepping closer, intruding upon the girl's personal space once more, Darla unclasped her hands and gently tucked a strand of loose hair behind the girl's ear.
"Though maybe I'll just convince Angelus to turn you, then set you loose on that merry band of do-gooders that seem to have taken you in. I'm sure even that know-it-all Seer wouldn't expect that."
Despite the fact that Darla had simply traded one weapon--the knife-- for another--her hands-- Kathy actually breathed a sight of relief when she heard the sound of metal clamoring against the wall. Staring down the vampire as she continued to speak, the little girl actually felt a strange sense of power over Darla when she turned away. At least for half and instant, she had won. Though the demon might not have had a soul, something the child had said had made her feel something. By this point, she had resolved herself to whatever fate would be. It was Angel that was needed by the others--the only good she had ever done was to get herself into trouble, true? How many others had risked their lives thus far coming to her rescue? While the girl certainly did not want to die, a voice of reason somewhere inside of her, wise beyond her years, told her this: This time, she had to fight for her big brother.
While any logical sense told Kathy that any efforts to reason with the woman were useless, she still felt the need to try.
"Leave Cordy outta this," she asked, and this time it was a plea. "She's good. She's done nothin' wrong." Taking in another deep breath, she swallowed hard, knowing that she was about to take a very real risk in what she was to say next. Even so, she tried a new approach.
"You know what it is t'feel love," the little girl stated, very matter-of-fact. "I know you do. I don't know if it's love ye feel for Angelus, but it's something. And I know ye love your son. Connor. I've yet t'meet 'im, but I've heard a great deal about him, and I know that grown up t'be a wonderful man. And he's loved, too. By Angel and by Cordy...the ones who cared for 'im, back when you couldn't. And I know that has t'mean something t'you, because vampire or not, soul or no soul, you're a mam." Tears brimmed behind her eyes now, but they derived from the power in the emotion behind what she was saying, rather than sadness or fear.
"Please, I don't mean to upset ye, I really don't. But let me tell you about our Mam. I'm sure ye've heard a great deal about Father, but--...Well, she cried a lot. Everytime Liam fought with Father, when he stopped coming to mass with us, th'day he left? She felt for 'im, and she only ever wanted what was best for Liam. I know ye don't care about me, but could ye please, just for a moment, think of what 'twould do t'Connor, to lose those people? T'lose 'is Dad?" Her voice lowered to a whisper, and it was more a reflective statement than one meant for the other's ears. "I'm sorry for you, Darla."
And it was true. Someone had robbed the woman of her humanity, and because of that she would never really know the love Kathy spoke of, nor friendship. Really, there was nothing more sad in the whole world. If only, instead of fixating upon getting Angelus back, she had some will to regain what she had lost.
Why Darla allowed her to continue talking past 'You know what it is t'feel love', she'd never know. Perhaps it was shock that the girl dared speak of such things, the fact that little Kathy seemed to have nerves of steel the likes of which Angelus had never before mentioned. Or perhaps it was that this child was speaking of Connor and, while Darla certainly didn't love him, she was curious as to what had become of him, so she allowed the girl to go on in order to have that curiosity abated. Whatever the reason, Kathy did speak and Darla... well, she really had no choice but to listen.
It may have worked, too. Not in the way Kathy was thinking. There would be no sudden change of heart, no realization that she was wasting her immortality by cutting a bloody swath across the world and leaving her mark by way of corpses and destruction. But there might have been some part of her, some very tiny piece of whatever humanity she'd once possessed that remained that could have sparked at the tender words spoken with such belief by one so innocent.
Had Kathy not said she was sorry for her.
Her arm shot out before she knew what she was doing, the back of her hand striking the girl across the cheek with enough force to spin the entire chair in a semi-circle. Snarling, she spun the girl back around with her foot and raised her hand to strike again... but never let the blow fall. Instead she glared at her, chest heaving with unneeded breath and her normal blue eyes mixed with demonic yellow.
"That brat means nothing to me," she hissed after a long moment, lowering her arm back to her side. "Do you hear me? Nothing. He's an abomination, an embarrassment to my very existence. The fact that he even lives..." She exhaled, stopping that sentence and continuing with another without pause.
"I am a demon, girl. Do you have any idea what that even means?" She snorted, shaking her head a bit at the knowledge that no, Kathy probably had no real concept of that whatsoever. "I don't feel things like compassion. Pity. Love. All of those things ceased to exist the moment I became who, and what, I am." There was no sorrow there, no remorse in her tone. She reveled in that knowledge, in fact.
Turning from Kathy, crossing to where the knife had been thrown earlier, she snatched it up and studied the blade for a moment. She could see most of the room reflected in that shiny surface. Everything but herself.
"Do you know what I was, before I became a vampire?" she questioned, her gaze flickering back to Kathy. Her expression was calmed, her previous outburst all but forgotten. "I was a whore. I sold my body to men, in exchange for money." She reached the table, placing the knife back upon it and smiled, almost fondly down at the smooth blade.
"I was good at what I did, too," she remarked quietly in a reflective tone. "I enjoyed myself, I enjoyed the men. The attention. And when I lay dying on my death bed, I knew Hell was waiting for me. I was ready to face it, whatever it was." She slid her finger along the blade, barely even flinching when her skin sliced open. Raising her hand, she watched the blood as it gathered at the wound, a few drops splattering soundlessly onto the floor.
"Then I was spared. Reborn anew, given a chance to see the world through the eyes of immortality." Raising her finger to her lips, she sucked lightly on the blood before removing the digit and turning back to her small captive. "Your brother was a waste of human flesh. He was going to spend his life drinking and whoring until it was the death of him. He would have died lonely, and alone, and most likely in a gutter." Faster than the human eye could follow, Darla was once more in front of the girl, crouching down to look her in the eye.
"I saved him, girl, and it sure as hell wasn't because I loved him. I wanted someone with the same lust for life that I had, and he was the one. He had," she smirked, "potential." Reaching out, she grasped Kathy's chin and stated sternly, "Love has nothing to do with any of it. Love is a meaningless, empty emotion. It's a cancerous disease and," she smirked coldly, "if I hear you speak about it again, I'm going to cut out your tongue. Are we clear?"
Kathy cried out when she was struck, but in truth had been expecting it all alone. In fact, she was surprised that her head was still attached to her body by the time she finished her monologue. She could taste blood in her mouth, coming from a split lip no doubt. For the sake of her interest, she fell silent, allowing her gaze to drop to the floor as Darla spoke. She felt foolish for having said the things she did, seeing that it had made no difference after all.
She listened closely as Darla spoke, easily ignoring the pounding in her head from the blow for the time being. She rose her eyes to regard the woman only when she began to speak of her life as a human, turning sad at the mention of Liam and the way he had been. Funny, it seemed so very long ago now.
Trying with all of her might to understand what Darla was trying to communicate to her, trying to comprehend what it meant to, as she said, not feel, the little girl dared to stare right back when Darla knelt to her level. A strange thought occurred to her then, when Darla said that she had actually saved her brother. That action, made because of a love of life, had resulted in so much destruction of life, yet still....good had come of it. Kathy and her parents and countless others had died, but looking at all Angel had accomplished since regaining his soul, she couldn't help but to wonder if it was all for a reason.
And then, in an unlikely turn of events, through her death Kathy had been presented with the chance to be with her brother again. Of course, there was a dear price for that, considering that being with him had meant confronting the grief of losing her parents--something she would never be able to overcome entirely--but she had found a new family. She was happy. In some bizarre way, she supposed she owed that at least partially to Darla. And the things she had said about Liam, about the likeliness that he would have died alone and without fulfilling those things he had dreamed about...seeing the places he sketched, places he was so sure really existed, somewhere...they were true.
"You're right," Kathy told Darla, the tears now pouring over onto her cheeks. "For whatever reason ye did it---" Shaking her head, she stopped herself, head dropping defeatedly. "I won't speak of it again."
Darla blinked, momentarily taken aback. She was right? Since when did victims agree with her? What in the hell kind of kid was this, anyway? With a frustrated grunt she shoved away from Kathy and returned her attention to the table. Part of her wanted to just cut the girl open and let her bleed out right then and there. Yet for some reason, she didn't. In fact, she found that the actual enjoyment she'd thought she'd feel at torturing the girl had somehow disappeared.
God, the brat's gotten into my head. The thought was an unwelcome one, but never the less true.
For a moment, all Darla could do was stare at the table as she tried - and failed - to get her mind back into the game. Then with a deafening roar she shoved the table with all of her might, ripping it free of the large bolts that held it down and sending it crashing into the far wall. The clatter of various metallic items resonated throughout the enclosed space and, a few seconds later, the door leading to the upstairs opened and a minion's voice called hesitantly, "M-Mistress? Is everything-"
"Get down here," Darla snapped, spinning toward the stairs as the minion practically fell down them with his attempts to obey. "I want her fed, then gagged until I return." Reaching out, she snatched the minion clear off his feet and hissed, "And if so much as one hair is hurt on her head, I'm holding you responsible." She tossed him to the side and turned, intent on leaving. However, before she had made it more than a few feet, she couldn't help but look to Kathy once again.
"Save your words for your brother, when he comes. I'm sure he'll love to hear them right before he ends your pathetic life all over again," she stated coldly. Then she was gone, up the stairs and out of the house, enhanced speed making her a virtual blur through the woods that surrounded her home. She was on the hunt for something to hurt. She wanted the blood to flow because then, maybe then, she could forget about the soft-spoken, heartfelt words of an innocent girl... and just how true they might very well be.