2. LAMBING.

[hismasterpiece]

Tonight, just after sundown, there is a ruckus on one of the farms northeast of the village. When the bleating dies down, several dead lambs might be found in one of the enclosures. The ewes paw and nose at the bodies, dumb terror still fresh in their eyes.

Forest animals just have not been cutting it for Drusilla. But the vampire has been too wary to approach the village and feed there -- not without her Family, those who strengthen her. She stalks the journals during the day when she's not sleeping. Two slayers? A vampire hunter? All sorts of overpowered freaks and heroes and demons? She might be mad, but Dru is not stupid enough to attempt any kills in the village. Yet.

As she tears through the last lamb, the vampire laments to herself how much more fun this would be with Spike. And then she convinces herself in a long, drawn-out argument with a curiously red evening star -- which she quickly names Ethelind -- to spy on the sleeping village. Find out where the sweetest victims lay their heads. Her tattered white new-feather sundress, covered only by a black lace shawl, is stained red with lambs' blood. The dress of her porcelain doll, which she is carrying with her, is also stained. Perhaps she can stop at the shop for a new frock, and one for dolly, too.

When she glides through the village, Drusilla will dare to peek into some windows. She cannot enter any homes without an invitation.

[Dru will not be lingering around anyone she has identified as a threat. She is a powerful vampire but far more bold when working with lackeys or her "family" -- Angel, Spike, Darla. IF YOU WANT YOUR CHARACTER TO DIE OR BE INJURED AT THIS TIME JUST TELL ME IN A SUBJECT LINE, otherwise she won't be killing or hurting anyone in this post.]

Comments

[shadedsunlight]

Ginia backed away again, still maintaining a cautious distance between them. "Who?"

Her eyes glanced down to Drusilla's dress, dark blotches and splatters visible against white fabric. She can't tell what it is in the dim light, but her mind offers two suggestions; paint and blood.

[hismasterpiece]

"Take me to your bed then; I can't very well resist that, now can I?" She folds her arms inside the coat with a knowing smile.

[hismasterpiece]

I am born for human blood. They satisfy every need but that. [She peers up at him.] You are perched like a bird with your familiar at your side.

[hismasterpiece]

I can hear it, you know. [She stops and stares at him; instinct is telling her to wait to get to wherever he is taking her. Cunning is telling her to kill him here where she will not risk being witnessed.]

07

[hismasterpiece]

[She turns to face him and begins drifting toward this man. He has an odd, aura. Magic. Very strong magic. It attracts her more than anything.]

Good evening, my lord. Do I not look alright?

[....She IS covered in blood, but the darkness might obscure it.]

[hismasterpiece]

[That thing might be haunting the lawn just outside the window. Drusilla crouches just beneath it, peering up through the panes. When she sees someone looking out, she smiles and waves.]

07

[hismasterpiece]

Around the barracks, if she reaches that building, Buffy might see a lithe woman in white approaching the door. Drusilla does not notice the slayer right away; she is too preoccupied with trying not to be seen, as though she has other pursuers this evening.

[hismasterpiece]

"The Watcher." Drusilla sniffs the air and a slow, sultry smile spreads over her features. "You were his. And he left you."

[shadedsunlight]

Giles. She knew about Giles.

Ginia knew she should have left long ago. Manners be damned, she knew better than to stand around and talk when everything felt so off. She should have kept walking, kept on going, taken a long way home.

But now she can't move because she wants to know more, wants to know who this woman is and how she knows Giles. How she knows they were together, how she knows he left--

"He didn't leave willingly. He was sent home."

[herotypical]

Her breath caught in her throat when she recognized the figure. The woman. The monster. And -- most uncomfortably -- she remembered how difficult the same vampire had been to track down during her last cameo.

Buffy waited just a spare moment or two before slipping into the barracks behind Drusilla. Almost-but-not-quite a cul-de-sac. She wondered if the vampire knew about the transporter...

The heel of her boot hit the concrete floor and Buffy didn't even try to soften her entrance. Subtly was never her strong suit, after all.

[thebellthatbinds]

[Hand tightening around knife kept hidden by her side Sabriel frowns faintly at the woman on the other side of the window, the cold feeling in her gut concentrating. This woman was Dead, one way or another and no smiles were going to hide it but Sabriel has met and spoken with some Dead residents and they hadn't shown themselves to be a threat. However...and forgive her for judging but Dead things don't creep around late at night for no particular reason. Not where she's from.

In the shade of the night Sabriel can't make out the stain on Drusilla's dress to be blood but something about the pattern of it disturbs her, reminds her of the marks on the broken Charter stones at home...

After a moment Sabriel simply nods her head in recognition and greeting, not presenting herself as hostile but not welcoming either.]

[folklorist]

[ Helios will stop in his tracks watching her as she comes ever closer. He's mostly taken aback by the term used. 'Lord' he was anything but and it makes him laugh sheepishly. ] P-Please just, ah, c-call me Helios.

[ He notes the dark splotches on her dress now the darkness making it impossible to differentiate between blood or paint or something else. For some reason it makes his stomach knot up just a little. No, no. He was being silly. There was nothing to worry about! ] Y-You just seemed a bit...lost. Are you looking for something or someone perhaps?

[most_unwanted]

[Of course Mulder would be up at this odd hour, going through his files, trying to piece together answers and figure out what could be in store for them in the near future. He tosses another sunflower seed shell on the pile growing on his table, then happens to look up...]

[HOLY SHIT THERE'S A WOMAN STANDING THERE.]

Can I help you?

[fuckthemission]

[He grits his teeth under thinned lips and whips his handgun out in a flash, aiming and firing at her, if not for her ugly mug, then for the fact that somewhere, someone is probably dead. Someone who is possibly young and in need of help. But the thought occurs to him, in this moment--

Maybe he's very under-prepared for Lucetians.

And that whatever she is, it sure isn't human.]

[mountain_sage]

Yes...

[She's out late at night, asking to come in through his window. While Saleh does find it suspicious, it's not a very good reason to turn her away. She hasn't actually hurt anyone that he's aware of.]

Very well. Would you prefer to come in through the door?

[bloodwaif]

Drusilla can feel Rupert Giles all over this woman, as though he is wrapped almost protectively around her. She wipes a bit of saliva from the corner of her mouth and steps closer. Her arms seem to act independently of her body, with graceful, snake-like movements before and behind her. A deadly ballet.

"Then let me give you solace. I can make you forget," she says softly.

[bloodwaif]

[Oh, an invitation. An invitation. Dru reaches up and hooks cruelly-nailed fingers over the windowsill.]

I do like the window! It makes me feel like quite the naughty one!

[bloodwaif]

[The bullet will slow, but not kill her. There might even be a sight of quickly-congealing blood somewhere in her midsection. This only angers Drusilla, though the force of the gunshot sends her reeling backward a few steps.

Undaunted, and now angered, and realizing that hypnosis will not be easily effected in the darkness, she tries to strike at his jugular vein and spill him out under the moon.]

[bloodwaif]

[Another sensation hits Dru as she breathes in the air around this newcomer. Rupert Giles. Again?! It is infuriating, all these traces of the hated Watcher. It makes her hungry and irritable all at once, but she tries to smooth these feelings under a porcelain-doll exterior.]

I am looking for the feast. Do you know where they've hidden it?

[bloodwaif]

[Dru nods back, which is Good Manners. And then she points at Sabriel before drawing her sharp-nailed fingertips across her own throat. A thin red line appears against the ivory skin of the vampire's neck.

She grins up at the woman in the window before pressing one bloody fingertip against the glass pane.

Soon enough it might become clear that she is writing the words C O M E P L A Y in her own blood upon the glass.]

[bloodwaif]

The vampire whirled gracefully around, hissing at the sound of this intrusion. She felt immediately who it was -- centuries of slayer power was something she could sense readily, though her abilities were dulled here in Luceti.

"Going for a swim at the seaside, slayer? Going for a swim in the moonlight?"

[shadedsunlight]

Ginia doesn't take a step back. She knows she should, her mind is screaming at her to run, but she doesn't. Giles' departure was still a sore spot for a variety reasons. Losing the man she loved with the big one, but it also pulling up all the insecurity she had about losing the ones closest to her. Practically everyone she knew and loved back home was dead. Giles was another to the list. Dead, gone. She knew he had no choice in the matter and the Malnosso sent him home, but he still left.

Drusilla's hands are hypnotizing. She sees them move, watches and admires their grace, then forces herself to look away.

"I don't want to forget him."

But wouldn't that be easier? Not having to carry that hurt? The pain of losing him, the pain of knowing he was gone? Having nights where she could sleep without his ghost sneaking into her dreams?

No, no, no. No matter how much it hurt, forgetting him was never worth it. For all the pain, there was still so many good, beautiful moments.

Ginia regains her wits and steps back, hand moving down and finally drawing her knife.

"Stay away from me."

[bloodwaif]

[HAI MULDER. Drusilla taps her nails against the window and grins at him.] Have you the time, my good gentleman? Have you the time to give a lady?

[mountain_sage]

[Ever the exact opposite of naughty, Saleh extends his hand to help her climb through. He does notice her nails, and it does make him waver a bit. He'd just have to be careful.]

[fuckthemission]

Shit--!!

[He puts up his arm in the hopes that it'll at least keep his neck safe, sacrificing whatever damage she can deliver to his forearm, and along his cheek, in exchange for that sort of instinctual safety. As long as he can keep her from touching any of his vital kill spots, he might have a shot at getting the hell out of there.

He doesn't shove her away, instead jamming the gun toward her neck and face and firing again. If anything could work, maybe it'd be a headshot, or something close to it. His panic is rising if only from experience--if he were in his world right now, he'd be infected, and for a moment he flashes back and wonders if it's contagious, if he'll turn into some monster.

The thought makes him more determined to get away.]