5. FEAST

[hismasterpiece]

[Voice]

Hallo, pretty New Feathers! I am hosting a feast. A feast by the lake to the West.

[Not the southern lake -- she needs to keep certain peoples' attention away from the lonely house she inhabits there.]

You are all invited! I have prepared something for you. It tastes of mint and chicory and iron! Yarrow and tansy! It will make you stronger.


Come.

[/Voice]

[Action]

Drusilla will be stalking about the woods as usual, eager to assist anyone who HASN'T heeded her invitation.

There is a cage waiting there, hidden under the trees. It is large enough to house a full-grown adult human.

It tastes of mint and iron.

[/Action]

Comments

[namesthestars]

"Harry? Brrr. BRR. It's chilly over here."

She tapped cold, undead fingers against the side of her chair. Tap tap. Tap tap.

Beckon, beckon. Coy beckoning.

"Or I could come to you," she decided, standing up to cross over to him. It would be lovely to sit on his lap and hold the goat's head high, bathing them both in the blood. Then she could lick it from his cheek and kiss his temple. Yes.

[quicktoanger]

"Didn't think vampires had a problem with cold."

Okay. Um. Think.

"Hey, you know what? I think there's some blankets in the closet, let me go look."

And with that, I quickly stood and brushed past her, making a beeline for the closet.

[namesthestars]

There was certainly a pout at that. "But Harry. You're not being at all cuddly! I shall have to tie you up."

And why had that delectable idea not occurred to her before? Tie him up, of course! Lovely ropes looped around each throbbing wrist; stretching him against the wall; having all of him that way.


"And then we shall play."

The Creature from the Black Lagoon continued playing on in the background in all its black and white glory.

[quicktoanger]

"Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and pass on that one."

Oh, hell, I hadn't wanted this to get confrontational. Damn, damn.

[bloodwaif]

"Have you never played tie-up before?" That piqued her interest even more. "Would you like to do me instead? We've all that lovely goat going to waste."

[quicktoanger]

... In point of fact, I had, and with a half-vampire to boot. But that half was a pretty key half, and also it wasn't really something I'd planned on.

"... Okay, Dru? We had a pleasant little evening going, and that's great, but I really don't want to get violent with you, here. So how about you do me a favor and sit back down in the chair, and I'll sit back down in my chair, and we watch the movie like good little campers, yeah?"

I didn't know how much her vampire abilities had or hadn't been weakened, but it didn't really matter. At the moment, I just felt like I had locked myself in a room with a mentally unstable predator, and suddenly I was boggling at my own arrogance.

[bloodwaif]

And all she wanted was some hot sexy loving.

"Violent? I don't want it to be violent. There could be tickling. And you could feed me the goat." She was already going past him into the closet, searching for rope. Anything that could float her kinky, significantly messed-up sexual fantasies.

[quicktoanger]

"... Drusilla, there will be no tickling of any kind. Period."

[bloodwaif]

"Spike will never find out," she promised, re-emerging with what looked like a child's jumprope. "I shall pretend to be frightened. Oh Harry."

Drusilla licked her lips and looked him up and down and up again.

"Had I tail it would be wiggle-waggling. Wag, wag!" And she gave her hips a shake as she offered him the rope and her wrists.

[quicktoanger]

She was literally standing there offering to let me tie her up.

Penthouse, you will not believe what happened to me tonight...

"Bondage was never really my thing, Dru."

[bloodwaif]

"Harry dear, Harry dear, dear Harry," she crooned, still offering herself. Pressing herself on him, really -- sinuous and insistent. "I will teach you to love it. Perhaps when you've had done with me we can catch a toy and I will show you my new cage."

[quicktoanger]

I settled my hands against her shoulders and forced her insistently away from me, not bothering to keep the anger out of my voice.

"You really want to back up right now."

[namesthestars]

"He never thinks of MY needs," she complained, steadying her hands on Dresden's shoulders even as he pushed against hers. It was a macabre sort of hug -- the kind she liked.

Anger didn't bother her much.

"'No more human blood, Dru,' he says -- him and his SOUL. Well I can STILL have fun!"

[quicktoanger]

"Who has a soul, now?"

I stopped pushing her away and started to think. This was a new idea, a new thought. One I might be able to use. If another vampire had gotten a soul...

[bloodwaif]

"Spike. My Spike. He's souled." More pouting, and she took the opportunity of Harry's thinking to lay herself against him rather sinuously. "And it's spoiled him!"

[quicktoanger]

Oh, for-

I pulled myself back again, holding her away with my gloved hand so I wouldn't get holy water on her.

"Spoiled him, I'm assuming, in the sense that he's not into killing people anymore?"

[hismasterpiece]

"No," she pouted. "He's not. And he's offered to FEED me. Like a pussycat!"

[quicktoanger]

"Sounds... terrible."

Hmm. Well, shit, this could bear further investigation.

"So I'm guessing your party out in the woods was... what, to get back at him?"

Well. I had a long term plan. Now I just needed a short-term one. So far, the only one I had was...

... Well, hell. I doubt anybody would object to me locking up an evil psychopath, except maybe this Spike guy.

[hismasterpiece]

Dru? Do something passive aggressively aggressive like that?

N E V E R R R R R

"A woman cannot live on otter blood alone. I crave the sweeter spices, DearHarrydear. YOU know that!"

[quicktoanger]

Well, then. Giving a vampire their soul made them stop killing people. I'd just have to figure out how to get hers back.

But first, I had to somehow get the psycho with the disturbingly active libido under wraps somehow.

So, I improvised. And I put on the friendliest grin I could manage.

"Yeah, I can see that. Alright, I tell you what, I'll make you another deal. Answer me one little question, and then we can get to all the fun rope-filled shenanigans you could possibly ask for."

Well, okay, they wouldn't be fun, but there'd be rope, that's for sure. Lots and lots of rope.

[hismasterpiece]

"Questions questions questions! Very well, then! Ask your question."

Fun-filled rope shenanigans aside, the vampire was genuinely curious about Harry Dresden and his questions.

[quicktoanger]

"Uh, well, it's just something I've always wondered about. Vampires... you guys can sleep, right?"

As I spoke, I started gathering my power.

[hismasterpiece]

"Sleep?" She took a step or two back, considering. Sleep was that pleasant thing one did when one's stomach was full and the sun was on the rise. "We do. We do sleep."

Certainly they did not NEED sleep the way living, breathing people did. But sometimes it served to pass the time.

[quicktoanger]

"Oh, good."

And without bothering to explain, I placed a hand on either side of her face, met her eyes- with no nagging threat of a soulgaze, thanks to her not having a soul- and murmured,

"Dorme. Dorme."

As I spoke, I laced my power into the words, willing her to sink into a dreamless sleep.

[hismasterpiece]

Any mental struggle or fighting against that spell was rather token; Drusilla was too captivated by being herself the subject of a spell that was nearly sister to her own hypnotic powers.

Her lips quirked into a lovely smile, with just that darling and perfectly human-looking overbite showing before her slight figure slumped forward into the man who'd overcome her.