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 VII...
The somewhat crowded, though pleasant enough dining room of the
Germania Hotel, about 8:30 pm...
"So...Mr. Smackles..." Peter eyes his dinner companion across the
small table...Elizabeth, contentedly sitting next to him on her own
insistence, scanning the bill of fare...They gotta be kiddin', forty-
five cents for a chicken dinner?...
"What is your profession, I presume here in New York, sir...?"
Willie eyeing the rather annoyingly inquisitive Brit...Thought these
types maintained a crusty self-reserve...And kept outta of one's
business...
"Me?...I'm a kinda facilitator...I get things done..." Smackles frowns
slightly, eyeing Elizabeth...
"Cousin Willie's a middleman...He smooths things for businessmen and
such to get what they need done quick..."
Oh...? Peter nodding wisely... "Then you are a political operator?..."
"I got my connections downtown..." Willie nods back...
Boss Tweed and all that...Peter notes...
"I know Tweed and his boys...You don't get things done here if you
don't..." a shrug...
"While combining a love of old artifacts with your more practical
daily grind..." Peter smiles... "I saw the way you handled Miss
Springs' book..."
"Mana wide interests, that's me..." Smackles eyes the younger man
coolly...
"So we have something in common...Given the practical nature of my own
profession..."
Yeah...Willie nods dryly...
"But cousin Willie got started on his luva books late in life..."
Elizabeth cut in... "Hows 'bout you, Peter...You been a poet a long
time?..."
"All my life, I'd say..." "You must gotta a big pilea work to show
off...Regular Walt Whitman, eh...?" she beams...
"Nowhere near that..." he shakes his head...Then smiles...Whitman fan,
eh?...a grin at her...
She gives a genuine smile... "Read 'Leaves of Grass' straight
through..."
"As did I...A remarkable work...Wish I had hopes of ever coming
close..."
Smackles frowns a bit...No time to be connectin' with the guy you're
gonna feed to our enemies, girl...Fortunately, the moment fades almost
immediately...
"Well, you gotta read some of yours to us...Or me, anyway...I'll take
the beef steak...If it's real beef..." she turns to the server who'd
just arrived...The girl frowning...
"This is the Germania, miss...It's real beef..."
This week...she did not say...
"At these prices, it better be..." Adding requests for bread, a bottle
of beer, and coffee she turns from the waitress who moves on to
Willie's order...
And sees that something...Someone...Has distracted her adjacent
companion's attention...
A rather delicate, if lovely-looking and well-dressed brunette
someone...Who, standing in the busy dining room, looking round, seems
a bit lost...
An annoyingly lovely...And tall someone...Elizabeth frowns...Slightly
nudging Peter... "Sorry, I need the sugar?..." Yes, here...He passes
it without looking at her...
And without taking eyes from the new arrival...
Who...Unfortunately...Appears to be very much human...
[Ah...Brunette and overwhelming him...Now we're talking...Cicely noted
with satisfaction...
Hopefully, a potential heroine in disguise who overcomes young
Dracula's hold and steps in after...Hmmn?...Dracula?...How did he?...
I must be talking too much shop around him...]
"Pardon me..." the young woman moves to their table...
"Are you the people leaving for California tomorrow on the morning
train?..." she asks gently...
"Yes...Well, the two of us are..." Peter smiles at her, rising...
"How'd you know we were bound for California...?" Elizabeth gives her
a narrow look...Willie looking attentively at her as well...
"The young lady at the desk told me when I registered a few moments
ago...I was hoping to find someone heading that way as I'm traveling
there alone myself..."
Oh...? A cold tone...
"We are heading to California tomorrow, Miss...?" Peter tries a tad
more warmth...Noting immediately the mourning outfit...
"Marie...Marie DeRussel..." Marie offers a hand which he gently takes
a moment... "Peter Potter..."
"Elizabeth Springs..." The Slayer grabs their unsolicited guest's
other hand...And vigorously pumps it a few times...
"...And my cousin, Willie Smackles..." Willie gives a curt nod...Nope,
human fer sure...Elizabeth's quick look to him saying...
"I'm so sorry to intrude on you..." "Not at all...We've just begun
ordering..." Peter waves... "Please sit with us..."
Well...A grateful, lovely smile... "If you don't mind...?"
Yeah...Elizabeth frowns... "Hava seat..."
"Thank you..."
"I see...You're in mourning?..." Peter hesitates...
"My father passed away in New York a few days ago...While here on
business..."
I'm so sorry...
"Yeah...A real shame..." Elizabeth eyes their guest with a carefully
appraising glance... "I gotta start wearin' mourning for my uncle
Merrick (Merritt?...Peter corrects...Yeah...she frowns...) tomorrow
myself...What your pa die of?..."
Consumption, I'd guess from lookin' at you...she did not say...
***
To Miss Springs' growing impatience, young Dr. Potter devoted himself
to their shy, grieving guest during dinner...
Hey, I just lost my unk...Far as you know, Petey...she frowned
silently at him as he made another of several mildly humorous remarks
on the city and their adventures that day to Miss De Russel, bringing
a gentle smile to her beautiful face...Laced with a bit of concern to
hear that such a kind gentleman had nearly met a dreadful fate even on
emerging from his vessel...
"Yeah..." Miss Springs took the opening... "I saved his life...Right,
Peter?..." she looked at him...
And hows bout a little gratitude, boy?...
Indeed...he nodded... "And then we tried to find the culprit but
whoever had dropped the crate...Or thrown it...Was long gone..."
"Thrown?..." Marie stared... "At you?...Surely not?..."
"I would think it an accident myself...As no one knows me here...But
the dockside detective seemed to think the crate could only have been
thrown, though from where...Impossible to determine..."
"Crazy place the docks...Ya get all kinds there...But it probably was
just an accident..." Elizabeth noted...
"Well...It's wonderful that you were spared serious injury, Dr.
Potter..." Miss De Russel beamed gently at him...
"Nothing at all..." Peter smiled...Particularly at the "Potter"...
Willie watching the scene carefully as Elizabeth gave a narrow glance
at Peter...She now a bit nervous for the success of her plans for the
night...Awaiting the almost inevitable offer that would spell ruin...
If only the bitch had been a vampiress...Such a
simple...Wooden...Solution at hand...
"So we can all leave together tomorrow...That should be very
pleasant..." Potter noted...
Lovely...Elizabeth thought...Except there's only one way you and me
are leaving tomorrow, Brit boy...
With rings on our fingers...And in one direction...Los Angeles-way...
"That's very kind of you, Dr. Potter..." Marie gave a gently grateful
look...
And you, Miss Springs...she nodded...
Yeah...
Maybe she's using magics to cover her demonity...It is kinda
convenient for her to show tonight... Or maybe she's a human agent...
Yeah, some treacherous traitor to our kind whom I could kill without a
second thought...
"Actually..." Peter had decided to make a brilliant suggestion... "You
could actually do us a great favor, Miss De Russel..."
Oh, no...Elizabeth eyed Willie...Who rolled eyes...
"If you could let Miss Springs stay with you in your room
tonight...See the hotel was a bit overbooked when we came today and
she not having a reservation..."
"No, no..." Miss Springs waved a hand...Rather frantically... "No need
to put ya out, Miss..."
"Oh, I'd be very glad to..."
"That's excellent..." Potter beamed...
There somethin' wrong with you, fellah?...Elizabeth stared at him....I
mean bein' a gent's all very well and all...But you gonna pass up a
crack at a pretty damned neat gal who's been chasin' ya all day?...
Damn...she tried to repress a slight glower as Marie noted how
pleasant it would be for them to spend the night together...Like her
and her sisters back in the shop...er her father's old factory
shop...Before he made his fortune...
"Yeah...Great..." Miss Springs noted curtly...Willie giving her a
sympathetic look...
***
"What about her...?" Vladimir indicated a youngish woman in somewhat
disreputable dress, staggering a bit down the street near the Germania
where he and Olive maintained their mutual respective watches over the
two foci of their interest...
"A street whore?...Vladimir..." Olive glared... "I can't send a
trollop in to meet with our fine lady in a decent hotel...Not to
mention I have no desire to spend a week or two getting over every
disease she's carrying...Even if it would only be a week or two for
our kind..."
[I say, Walthrop...Jonathan coughing a bit...William now plunging
happily on...Ummn...His attempt to caution William...(Ladies present,
old man)...Ending abruptly on catching Cicely's hard stare...]
Though if she's to your taste...she smiled warmly...
"And you don't mind a week to a month of sores and scratching yourself
half to death..."
[Cough now from Henry as several of the gentlemen eyed each other,
Will blissfully unaware...Ummn, Will?...Nipped by another glare from
Cicely...Hell, we're (long as Father's out of the room...Quick
glance...) bohemian free-thinkers here...]
"It was merely a suggestion, my dear...Though frankly, I think you'd
have little difficulty in making her as fine a lady as you require...A
little cleaning and an air of grace, along with the right clothes...I
assure you I could show you many a duchess who could pass for such as
she on the right evening..."
I bet you could...she frowned...Aristocrats...Degenerates, all...And
someday...When the revolution I once lived and was ready to kill, as a
human, for, comes...If it comes before Nast starts his own takeover...
You'll be the first to the wall, I promise you...
Which would be an easier fate than what my Heinrich has in mind for
you, if time permits...
"My dear Olive..." young Dracula interrupted her reverie... "I
understand you were quite the revolutionary in your human day..."
"I fought for what I considered social justice, Count...Without
restraint or remorse...I still do, though strictly for our own kind
now..." she eyed him...
"Have you ever considered...?" he smiled... "A revolt within the
family circle?..." His face turned serious, voice intent...Surprising
her in spite of herself...
"Nast is a fool, Olive...And he will lead us all to
destruction...Apocalyptic destruction...After all...There will be
another Slayer after Miss Springs is destroyed..."
"That will hardly matter if Heinrich gains the Mouth's power..." she
gave him a hard stare... "And the Master is my sire..." she noted...
"But as I threw off my very granduncle and sire's hold over me..."
young Dracula noted quietly... "So a dedicated revolutionary like
yourself could her sire's...If the cause merited it..."
As it does...Being namely our people's and the world's survival...
She stared at his sincere face...
***
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