The Vampire as Metaphor...Book III of the (Semi) Complete Works of
William Soames Walthrop...
PG-13
Summary: A lost work of one William Soames Walthrop (...aka Spike) as
it was delivered at one of Cicely (see my Cicelyverse notes at the
included link) Addams' house parties, shortly before Will's demise.
See the reference to it in "Drusilla" (
www.geocities.com/buffyrebecca/Cicelypg.html
)
Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, In Book III of the (Semi)
Complete Works of William Walthrop...(direct link...www.geocities.com/
buffyrebecca/ csww3.html )
Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon,
Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire
Slayer series...
Contributions to the recovery of the lost works of England's third
worst poet are always welcomed...
Part V...
Young Mr. Potter was a trifle taken aback by the forthright Miss
Springs' proposal...Sleep in the same room with her?...Miss Ana, the
hotel clerk eyeing them both, while keeping a lookout for any of the
staff who might raise objections...
"You must've had to sleep with other folks before, Peter..." Elizabeth
frowned at him...Geesh, pal...Any of those guys out there in the lobby
would be thankin' the Lord on bended knee for a chance like this...
"There's no big deal 'bout it...You take the bed, I take the sofa...It
being your room and all...You guys do this all the time, right?..."
she turned to Ana...Who blinked a moment, the honor of her beloved
hostelry impugned...
On the other hand, twenty bucks...She nodded slightly... "Long as it's
kept decent...And you two are betrothed, right...?" she turned to
delicately blow into a large embroidered handkerchief...
Absolutely...Elizabeth beamed...Grabbing at Potter's hand...A swift
kick to his knee as her startled new life companion began a protest...
"Then it should be no problem at all...Ummn..." Ana eyed the lobby
detective, now moving their way... "Just make sure he comes up the
back way by the fire escape...Our dick knows you're not married..."
she whispered...
Ok...Miss Springs nodded... But...Potter tried again, blinking...
"Shut up..." she hissed harshly... "Peter..." she added, changing to a
sweetly earnest tone... "You have to have a place for tonight,
right?...Let me do this for you..." she patted his arm... "It'll be
just fine...Don't worry..."
Oh, I hear those wedding bells a-chimin'...she glanced over at the
lobby dick...Who was again giving them a once-over...
***
Nast's lair in NYC Sewer tunnel #1...Evening...
Following their host's rather enthusiastic tour of the great tunnel he
currently inhabited...And his guests having expressed praise and
wonderment for this monument to engineering expertise...These
humans...One noted, shaking his head...We must try to keep a few alive
as pets...The distinguished visitors and host, along with his own
minions, including Olive and the still somewhat embarrassed Gregor
took seats to continue the planning mode of their operations...
"Gentlemen...And ladies..." Nast smiled at Olive and the handful of
mates about the conference table...
"Our objective..." he waved a hand and light from a projection device,
a more advanced form of magic lantern, shone on the wall beyond
him...An image came into focus...A rather ornately carved large disk
or plaque...
"The Great Seal of the California Hellmouth...Closed for at least ten
thousand years..."
The source of limitless occult power...he continued...(well, for 1869
fairly limitless...)
"And the gateway to allow more of our dear Gregor's kind to rise up
and join us..." Gregor giving a slightly stiff but appropriately
dignified nod...
And...He gave a frown...Waving for the next slide...
"The obstacle standing in our way...One Miss Elizabeth Anne Springs,
Vampire-Slayer..."
[Why couldn't he be using 'vampire-destroyer', 'demon-
hunter'?...Cicely sighed to herself, looking nervously at the reading
William...Slayer?...This is just too...
On the other hand, is nice to see him looking so relaxed now...Really
hitting his stride...She gave a kindly beam to him...
Maybe I let the term slip in conversation and it stuck in his
mind?...Yes...she reassured herself...That's got to be it...
Hmmn...she frowned...Blonde...American...
Damn...
Well, we'll see how things go this weekend...]
A picture of Miss Springs, somewhat younger by two or three years, and
bearing a rather formidable aspect...Stake clenched in hand...
Several sighs rose about the room...Though one fellow spoke up...A
young nobleman from Transylvania...Several casting him deferential
looks of respect...
"Not to mention the other 'obstacle', my dear Nast...You do not even
know the precise location of the Seal and Hellmouth..."
"My dear Count..." Nast eyed the young-looking but poised fellow,
Vladimir Dracula, grandnephew and treacherous betrayer of his great
rival, Vlad the Impaler, vampiral Prince of the Dracule...
"The Slayer holds the secret of the Hellmouth's location...Thus all
obstacles are centered in her...Take her in the appropriate way...Or
let her uncover the Mouth's location before we destroy her...And the
minor problem of locating the Seal is settled..."
"Take her then..." one older fellow...the famed Hans of
Strasbourg...Who, with his brother, now beside him...The equally famed
Franz of Heidelberg...Glared at Nast...
"If you truly are destined to seize the power of the Hellmouth and
rule over all..." he sneered... "A mere Slayer should present no
difficulties..."
Olive turned in her chair, eyeing Hans, then to Nast with a
questioning look...
"My friend..." Nast gave a charming smile... "I have explained that
the Slayer is isolated now...We having disposed of her previous and
new Watchers...And that she bears the secret of the Seal's
location...I wish to proceed cautiously, lest she, in a moment of
panic, destroy herself and her information before we can obtain it..."
"Or perhaps..." Hans eyed him coldly... "You find the Slayer to be a
bit too difficult to deal..." he suddenly dusted...Franz staring in
horror...Others about the conference table staring with variations in
expression from mild horror to amusement...and pleasure...
How?...Franz looked about where his dearly departed brother had
sat...No one, nothing...Olive now smiling at him from her
seat...Straightening the hair under her rather stylish hat...
"In the same way as we will deal with Miss Springs when the time comes
if I lose the pleasure of getting to know her personally..." Nast gave
another beaming smile...Mirrored by Olive and a surprising number of
others about the room...Vladimir and Franz now looking a tad
uncomfortable...
"I have heard...From my own agents..." Vladimir quickly regaining his
composure...Nast was capable, no doubt, but one must consider one's
proper place in the hierarchy and act accordingly... "That Miss
Springs has a new companion with her...British..."
"Not a Watcher..." Nast smiled... "Our dear Olive has assured us of
that..."
"Indeed?..." Vladimir eyed the smiling Olive...Who nodded...
"Just a little fellow who met her Watcher en route from England..."
she explained...
"Who eluded Gregor's efforts to kill him?..."
Gregor gave an audible sigh...Looking downcast...
Hmmn...Nast now frowned at young Dracula...No need to hurt the poor
fellow...
"Effort..." he corrected coolly... "And it was Miss Springs who
accomplished the eluding...No, this gentleman is no threat to
us...Simply a means by which the Watcher, Mr. Merritt supplied the
Slayer with his information..."
"Perhaps...And perhaps the Council has been more clever than you
suspect...He is staying with her at her hotel tonight..."
Olive eyed Nast...Hmmn...?
Apart from the shocking lack of propriety...
"He could be a second Watcher...The more knowledgeable of the two
sent...Masquerading as a nobody to produce just the effect he has
achieved..."
Hmmn...Nast eyed Olive...Gregor sighed again...Brown-hair, no
dead...Bad...he murmured...Catching the gist of the conversation and
summarizing it in a rather efficient nutshell...
"Doubtful..." Nast shook his head... "But even if it were true...And
we should have proof when and if they separate...Tomorrow..."
Tomorrow?...Several of the European guests shook their heads...
These wild Americans...
"....A Watcher is only human, and we can deal with humans rather
easily..." he concluded...
"And if he is the real agent, sent to destroy or permanently seal the
Hellmouth?...You set us chasing Miss Springs and he separates from her
to go about his task unhindered..." Vladimir gave a hard
stare...Befitting a Prince of the Blood...
Is he on our side or what?...Olive frowned...Considering another reach
for her hat and the wooden bullet-firing dart gun concealed in it...
Several around the table gave nods, hear-hears, or growls of support
to Dracula...
"The Count makes a valid point..." Nast conceded... "But you are all
here because I wanted your advice and support..." An expansive
smile... "And so, I will take his advice and call upon him to maintain
a watch over this fellow, should he and the Slayer separate...But not
to take him...Yet..." he eyed Vladimir sternly...
"A task which perhaps may turn out to be essential...And one, I
trust...For the good of us all...He will accept..."
Damn...Rather would've preferred being on Miss Springs' surveillance
team...Vladimir sighed inwardly as Nast and the others looked at
him...Wonder if Nast and his bitch...He smiled gently at Olive who
relaxed a bit, pausing from straightening her hair, and returned the
smile...Guessed I'd hope to take Slayer and Mouth myself...
But then nearly everyone round this table is hoping to permanently cut
Nast and co out of the action at the end...he noted to himself...
Still, it was my bright idea to have this moronic human placed under
surveillance...I'm foxed...
And if he does turn out to be the key to the Seal...
"I shall be glad to do what I can...For Evil's common good..."
Vladimir nodded dutifully...
***
The lobby of the Germania Hotel, NYC...Evening...
Mr. Potter having gone to drop bags in the room and secure a dinner
table for them in the hotel dining room at Miss Springs' innocently
eager suggestion...Starved she'd assured him...Miss Springs had taken
the opportunity to send out a note via one of the messenger boys kept
in the lobby for just such purposes...
Clerk Ana eyeing her as she did so...Noting her maneuvering of Mr.
Potter...
Don't tell me she's got another feller waiting as well...
Peter returned after fifteen minutes to announce that dinner would be
ready shortly and found his new acquaintance in rather deep
conversation with a short, shifty-eyed little man in respectable if
slightly shabby clothes...
My cousin, Willie Smackles...I got in touch sos he wouldn't get
worried about me...she explained by way of introduction...Willie
offering a clammy hand...
"Mr. Patter...(Potter, Peter Potter...Peter corrected
patiently)...Who's been helpin' me out today..."
Hmmn...She has family here and still needs...
"Willie doesn't have any room for me at his lodgings...And they're too
far from the station for my train tomorrow..." she noted
hastily...Willie eyeing the young man...
Sure looked like the Watcher type...
[Watcher again?...Cicely fretted...Well, must've been talking too
much...Must watch myself better in future...]
"Mr. Patter's (Potter sighed faintly, giving up) going with me to
California tomorrow..." she eyed cousin Willie...Oh?...
"San Francisco...A bit to the north of where Miss Springs is
headed..." Potter explained...
Thats what you think...she thought, smiling...
"Peter...er Mr. Patter...Willie needs to see the book unk gave you for
me...Could ya get it for him?...If it's not too much..." Not at
all...Potter smiled and headed for the stairs...
Well?...she eyed her contact, 'cousin' Willie...A half-demon in
Council employ...Who'd given her the earlier info to go to the NYC
docks to find her new Watcher...
"I can tell you if it's The Book...But that's all...I can't read
it..."
She frowned...Then brightened... "Then lucky I hooked up with somebody
who can..."
"But, Miss..." Willie fidgeted... "The fella's not a Watcher...And the
Council won't like you getting him involved..."
They want me to do this one, they leave me to it...she waved a hand,
frowning... "You just hang round like I tole ya till I need you
tonight...Gotta have my 'cousin' close by to seal the deal..."
"But?...You really gonna..." he stared at her...
"They saw him...He fits the bill...Brit and all...He'll keep some of
em off my back...And since he can read The Book, he's a perfect
choice..."
Matrimonywise and all...she grinned...
"Less you're suggestin' we go out West together...Without a ring..."
she eyed the little half-demon...
God, no...If the Council ever found that one out...Canned for
sure...Still, he had to try again...
"But he ain't Council..."
"All the better..." she nodded in Peter's direction...Just tell
London...
And if...When...He bites it...
No great loss...
***
The offices of the Port of the City of New York...Evening...
Detective Harris eyed his agent...Who'd kept close watch on the couple
he'd been assigned to follow since the incident of that afternoon...An
incident still an unresolved mystery...
In the official report, at least...
"They're at the Germania...Near the station..."
Right enough, the California train...Harris nodded...
"...Seem to be staying..." the agent paused, delicately...
"Together?..." the detective eyed him...Hmmn...
Sounds interestin'...
***
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