*****

As soon as Darla felt the door slam shut her mind went blank. Visibly shocked she stood, a confused expression on her face and stared into the space, in which Angel had just stood. Did he really just lock Drusilla and I in a cellar with all these people? Her face twitched as the thought rolled across her mind.

'Why?... I mean, I know why... I just didn't think he had it in him anymore...'

She smiled to herself at the thought of Angelus' return. He may walk away from this now, but I know he will return to me one day... one step at a time Angelus She heard the door locks slide across and a shiver of anticipation spread throughout her body.

Locked in a wine cellar full of juicy lawyers her smile widened and she turned to face Holland, who was breathing erratically and who's bottom lip began to tremble.

Nearby, a strange looking woman in a floral shirt began to scream, terrified screams which only added to her bloodlust. The excitement building, a thought suddenly raced through her head

'What if this is a trap?'

She cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner and listened. Waiting for Angel to burst through the door and slay her... again...

When she heard his feet stamping up the carpeted stairs, the relief was minimal. Deep down she knew she craved a confrontation, a final stand off with Angel... not just a stake in the back. Anger surged through her body, which soon turned to hunger. She couldn't control the bloodlust anymore, turning to Holland she grabbed him savagely. Sinking her teeth into the soft- and slightly wrinkly- flesh of his throat. When she felt the first blood splatter into her mouth pleasure floated about her and as she began to suck the pleasure seemed to gather in her head. Darla felt as though she was floating a foot off the floor. Within seconds he had been bled dry. When she released her grip on his neck, he fell to the ground with a hollow 'thwack'.

She looked at his corpse laid on the floor, already his skin was pale, his lips tinted blue and his eyes dull and hollow. Darla smiled in satisfaction and looked to Dru who was stroking Lilah's cheeks and purring like a cat, while the woman recoiled, fearfully, at every little movement Drusilla made. Clever Girl

"Now" she said joyfully, "who's next?" The room remained silent, apart from a few fearful whimpers. When no one spoke up Darla scowled angrily, "what is wrong with you people? Scared to die?" she paused for a second then turned to Lindsey. Who was standing completely calmly and looking directly into her eyes. "But not you Lindsey-" she slowly walked over to him, until she was mere inches from his face "even though I've just murdered your boss right in front of you..." she continued, "still NOTHING" she said with amusement and pushed him backwards for the second time that evening. He tumbled over an armchair and lay, sprawled on the floor for a second, before climbing to his feet.

As Darla moved closer her features changed and she smiled gently, soft lips pouting under the harsh lights of the cellar. "You do realise I'm not the old Darla anymore, don't ya Lindsey?" she said mockingly, his jaw hardened and his gaze rested on her eyes. Those beautiful blue human eyes... that turned yellow before him. "Yes" he said stubbornly, then suddenly he moved closer, drew her into his arms and kissed her deeply his tongue exploring her mouth he paused for a moment to run it up and down her long fangs and was rewarded with a nip. He withdrew, tongue bleeding and Darla giggled softly. But, unperturbed he reached down and kissed her roughly on her demonic mouth. Slowly he moved down and began gently teasing her collarbone with little kisses.

Meanwhile, Drusilla's attention had shifted from Lilah's warm soft cheeks, to the cold hardness of Lindsey's prosthetic hand. As Lindsey continued brushing Darla's neck with his lips Dru crept up behind him and gripped the hand firmly, and waited for him to notice... he did not, and seconds later she tugged at the hand, which fell to the floor with a heavy 'clunk'. Drusilla cooed and knelt to retrieve the object, smiling happily as she cradled the hand like a baby. Gently she rocked it too and fro while silently singing a lullaby... "Aah!" Dru screeched suddenly, looking horrified- the entire room jumped and looked tense. "Aaah!" she screamed again. Grabbing the hand roughly by the wrist, she raised it above her head and sent it crashing down into the skull of a woman standing nearby. The woman's mouth formed a shocked "o" before she slumped to the ground. With an innocent smile she turned to Lindsey, who had stopped kissing Darla's neck for the time being and was looking at the woman with a quizzical expression on his face. Drusilla could tell this wasn't the first time he had witnessed death. "You want to watch it", she warned him, "That hand is evol..." she paused and pointed to the steadily growing puddle of ochre on the floor "look what it did to that poor woman". When his gaze returned to her, her face had changed from a look of innocence to a wicked mask of hatred. Dru snarled her yellow eyes shallow and menacing. "Grandmother?" she said in a singsong tone "I would very much like to eat something now". Darla spoke without turning "then pick one Dru dear and eat" she stated whilst continuing to half nibble and half suck Lindsey's shoulder."

As Drusilla looked around the room there were many candidates for 'meal-of-the-moment'. A tall woman with the most floral shirt that Drusilla thought would suit her much better, a medium built man with thick rimmed glasses that seemed to amplify the fear in his eyes and a tall bald man in a smart black suit who was tightly gripping a glass of red-wine. Apart from that the others did not speak out to Drusilla, just typical middle-aged evil-lawyer types.

After an on the spot decision she turned to the bald man. As she moved towards him he began to shake with fear and the glass in his hand shuddered. Wine began to spill over the sides of the glass where it dripped onto the man's expensive-looking shoes. "stop it" Drusilla said to him angrily. Then she took a second to calm herself, her brow smoothed and her features returned to human. "Stop shaking little mole" she said in a soothing voice "mommy won't hurt you" as she moved towards him she stared him in the eye. At first he looked away, but then with a glance he was mesmerised. Now standing perfectly still he shook no more, and not a drop more of the wine was spilt. Dru placed her scarlet tipped fingers around the glass and gently took it from him. Sipping from the glass she smiled and snapped his neck. He slumped to the floor, eyes as wide as saucers, and Drusilla giggled at his expression before tiptoeing over to Holland's body. "I like your wine" she said earnestly, "here" she forced the glass into his hand, which was now stiff. His whole body was tense, his shock echoing in his death throws.

Engrossed in the sucking of Lindsey's shoulder, Darla had virtually ignored Drusilla. She was an old fashioned vamp in many respects and Drusilla's constant interruptions bothered her. Most of the time Darla felt like she was babysitting a toddler with fangs. Damn You Angelus she thought to herself yet more of your crap I'm clearing up. She paused and took a deep breath, I guess you'd feel GUILTY though she chuckled cruelly to herself, "bastard" she said under her breath. She returned her gaze to Lindsey who was now shuddering slightly. Even without looking she could see he was aroused. She reached down and gripped his hardness through the course material of his suit trousers.

She knew he was attracted to her, and had been for as long as she could remember this new life. She still remembered, from somewhere, knowledge in sexuality and attraction, if not from her life, then from her years as a vampire... (but that wasn't the point). Everything he did screamed not only a sexual attraction to her, but more... deeper than that, maybe even love.

She took a deep breath. Her insides told her to turn him and be done with it. To make him her eternal partner... but then she had made that mistake before...

For the first time in minutes her attention had shifted. In the corner of her eye she could see Dru reaching toward a man. When she heard the glorious snap of his neck sensations flooded through her. In that moment she lost control and bit down upon Lindsey's shoulder. Familiar warmth entered her mouth. As the coppery blood coated her tongue her thoughts were drawn from all else, and rested upon the pure pleasure she was receiving...

"How dare he" she thought to herself, the sudden anger destroying the calmness she had just instilled in herself. "Lindsey LOVES me!"

She bit down harder. He jerked and she could feel that he was trying his best not to struggle, this only made her drink faster. When Lindsey was about half drained he passed out. She felt him begin to fall and gripped his shoulders harder, keeping him upright and now at the perfect height for drinking. She continued drinking, and although he was unconscious she knew he was alive from the frantic heartbeat he contained. After a few minutes she allowed him to slump to the floor, his breathing was shallow and he appeared dead, and maybe he would die, and even deep down... she did not care. "Better dead than another HIM"

Dru was feeling rather proud of herself, after snapping the man's neck she had not only spanked a bad puppy but now she was playing nursery rhymes with Lilah. The woman had spent the entire time up until now whimpering and praying, which had only caused Drusilla to giggle insanely. When Darla approached Lilah tensed noticeably "I see you girls have been having fun?" she said mockingly and aimed a menacing glance at Lilah.

Lilah drew herself up to a new height and looked Darla dead in the eye, and with a single motion raised her palm and brought it down across her face. The slap came as a surprise to Darla, but Drusilla could see she wasn't shocked. After all it was fairly obvious Lilah was a bitch.

Darla looked impressed. Taking hold of the woman's arm. Almost as quickly as the slap before, she twisted Lilah's arm and forced it behind her back, causing her to bend double in pain, pain which she quite readily voiced. "OW! That FUCK!" she screeched, but was silenced by the continued force.

Drusilla looked at her disappointedly and tutted. "Bad lady" she scolded, wagging her finger in Lilah's face, "you shouldn't have done that to poor grand mummy". With that Darla pushed harder on the arm and was rewarded with a satisfying crack. Lilah screamed as the bone snapped and Drusilla stared angrily before grabbing her by the hair, "shh!" she hissed, "You'll wake the puppy!"

As Dru smashed Lilah's face into the sturdy wooden door she passed out.

Awakening minutes later Lilah lay still hoping that they wouldn't notice. Darla chuckled softly as Drusilla lowered her fangs to the woman's throat. As soon as her teeth pierced the woman's skin her eyes shot open in panic. Lilah struggled to get free but Dru had her pinned down. Needless to say her pathetic attempts to free herself amused Darla to no end. Until her eyes closed, and she ceased to move, Darla laughed heartily.

After that Drusilla found herself becoming bored. Although the others cowered in ways Lilah and Lindsey had not, not one of them spoke out to her. Eyeing up the 10 or so lawyers in the room. She sighed. Idly tracing her fingers across the surface of an antique-looking table she turned to Darla. "Grandmamma" she said expectantly. Darla released the woman she was feeding on and faced Dru, knowing exactly what she wanted, "Yes Dru" she said patiently "When we've killed the rest we can go". Dru smiled. "six little puppies cosy in bed", she walked up to the nearest man, "one puppy weren't asleep". Gripping his throat she dug in her nails and tore it from his body. "It was dead" she spoke aloud.

After she drained the woman dry Darla observed the desperate thudding of her heart as it found no blood left to pump about her body. She was the last, dead lawyers lay strewn about the room. Drusilla was sitting on an armchair in quiet reflection, something not unusual for her. Staring at the ceiling she whispered mad stories of the stars, and drifted off into a daydream.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

She lay, floating on her back with her eyes shut, singing a tune as she composed it in her head. As she floated through the pond she noticed a faint splashing all about her. Whatever it was began to land on her. Tapping her skin all over which hummed in the places it touched her. When she opened her eyes she smiled, gazing lovingly into the clouds of ash that rained down upon her. In the distance she heard a thundering boom and the pond water rippled viciously. At the side of the pond a large tree stood proudly, its tall branches reached at least 60ft into the sky. The ground shook but the tree refused to fall, even when the earth beneath it began to crumble, it teetered on the edge, its heavy branches pulling it back.

Lightening flashed in the distance and the entire pond was light-up, just for a second. High up, in the bows of the tree the leaves began to shake. The leaves shook, faster and faster causing the pond water to ripple, building slowly into waves. As the leaves shook wind rose up, blowing the ash back into the heavens.

Lightening stuck again in the distance, closer this time. Staring into the sky Drusilla became aware of a large black object hovering 20feet above her. Squinting, she tried to make out the object, but even with her perfect night-vision the darkness concealed its features. Drusilla's skin began to tingle, not with the tangible pleasure of falling ash, but different. As the static built up she heard the large tree groan once more as lightening struck the ground near the base.

Drusilla saw the effect of the strike in the corner of her eye, the ground blasted into the air and mud flew into the branches. As if on cue the ash began to fall again, this time settling on the leaves and braches of the tall tree. With that the tree withered and died, and moments later toppled into the pond, defeated. But this was not nearly as interesting as what she had just seen. In the flash of the strike the object, lit-up and she had seen it in every horrible detail.

Darla struggled, suspended above the water, the flames burned her skin. She screamed, silence, but Dru could see the terror in her eyes as the flames enveloped her body. And the ash drifted down... down to the surface of the pond where Drusilla giggled as she slipped below the waves.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Drusilla lay she muttered strange things, Darla did not know if she was asleep or awake, and she did not care. Although her words disturbed her slightly she pushed them to the back of her mind. In this moment she felt like a mother to Drusilla, strange as it was she looked upon her during her blubbering's and great fondness was drawn into light. She leant across and gently kissed Dru on the forehead. She continued to mutter, "Piggies at War" she said as Darla tugged at her top, revealing a pretty pink nipple. Gently she toyed with it with her index finger before taking it into her mouth. "Piggy in the middle" Dru said before laughing in pleasure. She smiled at Darla. Darla returned her smile and continued playing, revealing first one creamy white breast then the next.

Suddenly her thoughts drifted back to Drusilla's mumblings. She understood. Even if Angel had wanted the lawyers dead, he could not do it himself, he had used her in exactly the same way Wolfram and Hart had. She was now just a tool- for both sides- and this angered her even more. She knew what she had to do, revenge on Wolfram and Hart was done now, they were all dead, mostly. Drusilla could wait, she would understand... after all, as she had said, it is war...

Darla kicked the door panel, which shattered as if it were sugar paper, her newly fed strength sending the door into oblivion. Darla took her new sires hand, and the two women sashayed away from the scene of carthage that lay behind them, they smiled to each other, and disappeared into the night

~fin~