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

[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.

AND WRAP.

[quicktoanger]

Well, that had worked better than anticipated.

Fortunately, I already had anticipated this as a possible end-result for tonight, and also fortunately, she was light. Some well-applied rope and a loose veil held over us- I'm not that great at veils, but it was dark and fairly deserted out, so even the shoddy veil kept us hidden- and I was able to get her back home pretty quickly. The spare chair in my extra room and the ropes tying her to it were strong enough that I didn't think she'd be able to break them when she woke up, but I set a ward at the door just in case. I'd know if she opened the door.

Now for the research.