WHO ARE WE?






LONDON, 1876 All Saint's Night

Her fairy quality had never been more obvious, he thought, walking two steps behind her. Drusilla was dancing with the snow flakes, dressed in her new, white fur. It was an early winter this year, all saint's night, and the ground was already covered in a thick carpet of snow. Death was celebrated all over the town, small candles were lit by every headstone, long lost family members were mourned again this night.

The streets were crowded with people, horses and chariots, people dressed in silk and velvet, with red roses on their cheeks from the cold, were passing on their way to and from the graveyards. It was indeed a wonderful night, for hunting.

And Drusilla was in the best of moods as she tried to catch the silver shimmering snow on her tongue as it dove down to earth from the dark blue sky above.

"Be careful!"her young companion warned,"it's still red!"
Drusilla's eyes widened in innocent surprise;"What?".
"Your tongue!"He explained with patience,"it's still red after our hunt!"
"Oh", she said, and performed a vicious little smile. Showing off a pair of strong, sharp fangs, just for a second, then they were gone!
Her blonde friend was not impressed;"You should be more careful! What if someone saw you?"
The beautiful girl shared a thrilling laugh;"Don't worry little-brother, mummy won't let anyone hurt you!"
"It's not me, I'm worried about..."he started out, but realised she was out of reach when he heard her happy humming while she continued her little dance. Crystal-like snow rested on her head, making it look like she was a bride on her way to her wedding, with flowers and veils in her hair. It wouldn't melt anytime soon, he knew, dead people were not very warm.

Suddenly she stopped on a corner, pointing her finger at a little grey church.
"My old priest used to work here. Wonder if he's still alive!"
"Not very likely", William said,"considering that Angelus killed him off a couple of decades ago!""Nooo! Not that one, the one before that!"She argued with unusual clarity in her big smoky-blue eyes.
"There was another one?!"He asked, and looked over at the little church with it's lighted windows and open doors.
"Yes, but mother didn't like him!"Drusilla suddenly changed her expression and looked almost like a little girl, a very naughty little girl.

William could feel how the passion rose inside of him, just by looking on those pink lips, curled up in this wicked little smile of hers. He knew there was more to come when she looked like this, and gave her the cue she wanted;
"Why? Why, pet? Why didn't mother like him?"
"Because he was in love..."
Her smile grew bigger, and he played along;"No? Was he? With someone I know?"
Her smile disappeared, but not the twinkle in her eyes. With a flirtatious glance she quickly turned around, with velvet and fur dancing around her legs,"With Princess!"
She stated and continued her dance in the snow.

William couldn't help but smile at her back, she was the most wonderful creature he'd ever met. Always something new! Something exciting! This was truly a special night, her dark colors to the white snow...the crisp, chilly air surrounding him! And the lights, and that wonderful taste of fresh blood on his tongue, really a night for adventures. His icy blue eyes suddenly froze on the stone church, and a smile took form on his lips, as the thought became a plan, and the plan became ready for sharing.
"Drusilla! Pet! Come here for a moment!"

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

The clock in the tower struck twelve, midnight, and the old priest was having his own quiet moment with the Lord in the sacristy, when a unusual sound ripped him out of his quiet complentation. The flames on the candle sticks blaffered as if the church-room were filled by a breeze he couldn't feel.

The priest felt his skin being filled with Goosebumps, as a thrilling laugh, and a hush reached him from the gallery. He knew that laugh! Had heard it before!

"Father Michael!"Her sweet voice was not to be mistaken.
"Emily!"He whispered and rose his head, still kneeling by the cross, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest! The blood in his veins suddenly ran cold as ice as the voice got a body, and the lady of his dreams appeared on the gallery above.

She was dressed in white silk and laces, her skin was paler than her dress. Almost like moonlight, turning into a shimmering grey. And she moved with such grace, that he wasn't even sure her feet touched the floor.
"Father, I need help!"The apparition explained."They're tormenting my soul!"
Her dark hair fell like a cloak around her shoulders, shiny curls, just like he remembered it. Emily's hair. Just the scent of it used to send shivers down his spine, made his whole body ache for her presence, in an unholy, not appropriate way. Like a man, not worthy the collar he wore.
She still had that hair, black snakes of lust that played their way in to his dreams even now. And her eyes. So shy, and yet so filled with passion, they used to twist his heart around, make him speechless and nervous in her presence. He even considered to give up his call, if only she would be his wife. But that was before, everything that had happened. "Emily!"He swallowed hard,"what happened to you? They never found your body!" "I know!"The ghost shed a tear,"that's why I'm in pain! I never got a grave!"
"Oh, child!"The priest cried out, overwhelmed with compassion for this poor, bewildered creature.

"You must help me! They're torturing my soul!"The ghost repeated.
"Who are?!"The priest asked with passion, feeling his knight's instinct wake up again, somewhere deep inside. That well known urge to protect Emily. Pain and guilt because he couldn't, back then, when she needed him the most! When her family was brutally murdered, and the sisters at her convent as well.

Now she was standing in front of him, wearing a ghost's disguise. And she spoke;"The Angels, the Angels are tearing my soul apart, since my body has no earthly home!"
"Oh child!"The priest cried out again, as if the pain was his."How can I help. How can I help your soul to rest?!"

Her big, begging eyes didn't blink one single time as she spoke, and the laces that covered the front of her dress didn't rise and fall with any breath.
"Bury my bones at your graveyard Father. Let me rest here, close, to the one that loved me the most!"Her long, white finger rose and pointed at his chest.

Somehow he felt honored, proud, even if he knew he should mourn her. The thought that she had noticed his love after all, made his heart grow in his chest!

"Oh I will, my love! I will! I will give you the most beautiful funeral, my angel!"His voice was thick with emotion!
Her girlish face, innocent and beautiful gave him the most happy smile!"When?"She asked. "Tell me where your bones are, and I will see to it!"He felt stronger than in years, like he once again had a purpose, a bliss. He would save his beloved one's soul. If it was the last thing he did.

On the gallery Emily turned her back to him and pointed towards the stairs,"You can see it from the bell-tower. Come with me and I'll show you..."
As the priest hurried after the tall white silhouette he could feel tears run down his face. Both for her being there and for her being dead...

As they reached the top of the tower she turned and said,"Do you know why I never paid any attention to you when I was alive?"
The crying priest shook his head, while his eyes never left her perfect face that suddenly changed!
"Because you were so incredibly stupid, that's why! Right, luv?"A dark voice spoke from behind.

Emily laughed. Her eyes were glowing yellow towards him and her face was suddenly wrinkled and demonic.
"What's wrong?"She smiled."Don't you love me anymore?!"
"Emily!"The priest cried out,"What is this? What tricks is the Devil playing on me?" A strong hand grabbed him by the neck and the priest was pulled into a cold body. He looked up in the face of a young, blonde man and as he watched his face changed in the same way as Emily's.
"No, devil! Just me!"The demon stated and threw the priest down on the floor. Even if his body hurt, the priest managed to get up on his knees;"But the Angels, that tortured your soul?"

"That would be me!"
Another male entered the small room. He was a huge, dark man with shoulder-length hair. His face was wrinkly and frightening as the others but this one even had a devilish smile planted on his lips. If the priest ever had pictured the Devil as a human, this was the closest he had come to seeing him in the real world, the man's gaze sent waves of cold fear through his body.

Emily spoke, still with her sweet, little voice;"This is Angelus, Father. He killed my family, so that I could be a part of his! Wasn't that nice? Now I can live forever!"She giggled. "What do you want?!"The priest cried.

The three of them just stared at him, giving him a really bad feeling. The males stepped aside as another female came in, a small, honey-sweet and doll-like woman, with her hand on the ropes that carried the bell she said;
"Our Drusilla wants to play funeral. And since you love her so much...You wont deny her the pleasure would you?"
She knelt beside him, traced the pulsing vein on his neck with a cold finger.

"What are you?"The priest whispered again.
None of them bothered to answer, the dark man, followed the blonde girl up. "Of course, if we're about to have a funeral. We'll need a corpse, won't we?"
Their smiling faces approached the terrified priest, when he saw their fangs, exposed in the dim light, he knew what was about to happen.

The blonde man spoke again,"Let's drain him and hang him in the bell, shall we? Would make a nice surprise for the cleaning woman...You do, have a cleaning woman, don't you?" His golden eyes stared right into the priest's - who wasn't there anymore, something else had taken his place. And a bright light blinded the vampires, forced them backwards towards the stairway.

"So be it!"A loud voice spoke."Let them walk without disguise! Let them lose their masks!" And so the light was gone, and with it the priest, and that other thing that took his place for a moment. Leaving the vampires alone in the empty church. And they looked at each other, and screamed!

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

The four vampires hurried home, walking the darkest streets and alleys they could find, but this time, it wasn't for the hunt! Angel walked first, carrying Darla in his arms, a woven picture from the church, showing a scene from the old testament lay on his shoulders, and covered up some of his pearly white skin.

Darla's clothes hung from Drusilla's arm, or limb, as she hurried behind him, in her shiny white fur cloak. Her own clothes hung torn from several of her new body parts.

William was the last, with his feet transformed, it wasn't easy to walk on the slippery, snowy road. Thank god, he still had his fingers intact, well most of them. And unlike the others he was able to keep his clothes on, with only a few stitches gone.

He looked at Drusilla's head in front of him, shiny, green leaves fell down her back. At least they seemed fresh and healthy enough, more than they could say about Darla the bird, there she lay in her childe's arms, a childe it wasn't easy to tell *what* was anymore. But he felt sorry for her, and for Dru, her milky white skin had turned into rough, grey bark. Her face was almost gone in the wrinkly surface. Of all the branches it was hard to tell what was her hands, but she did move in a way, so he assumed she had feet, or at least something similar to it. Her cloak was like a tent around her body, and for every move she made the green leaves rustled. He felt sorry for her, but also, in a way, amused. She *did* look funny, he just couldn't help it. And as for her fur, it couldn't compare to his own.

Finally they unlocked the door to their lair, Drusilla needed help to get inside, Will and Angel had to carry her horizontal, with the head first through the door. Still she complained about how it hurt when her limbs got stuck in the frame. Darla flew up on settling on top of a roman inspired beam that was placed in their luxury apartment.

"How could this have happened?"she shrieked, with her new whining voice. Lucky for her, she didn't have a beak, William thought to himself. Still everything else was there; shiny, black feathers, a useful pair of wings...her eyes were purely black under her lids but she did have a nose, and a mouth. And a pair of white breasts that would have looked tempting if it wasn't for the black nipples.

And Angel...He had a man's body, but all his teeth were like razor sharp fangs, and the skin seemed harder than marble. And somehow a low crown seemed to grow from his skull,. and his eyes, the white in them were almost blue, and the pupils shiny, red stones. At least he had hair, a thick black mane, but not as thick and pretty as his own he assumed, considering what he could see of his own nose, that wasn't actually a nose anymore, but the white face of a horse.

"Welcome to the real world!"Angelus spoke,"We are demons, remember...And not exactly of the ugly kind, either", he said while looking at in the mirror.
"Angelus!"Darla whined,"can you see your own reflection?!"
"Of course", the demon said proudly,"I'm the real me now."

Darla flew down and placed herself on his shoulder, the scream that came from her throat was chilling even for demons."This isn't me! It can't be me!"She screamed and hid her face in her left wing.
"Look! I'm growing!"Drusilla spoke behind them, and so she did. She was covering a whole double bed, and purple flowers popped out among her leaves."They're pretty!"She smiled.
Darla gave her a quick glance and stated in a sarcastic voice:"Well, looks like we'll be out of space pretty soon."

"What about you, stallion? How do you feel?"Angelus asked William, he just smiled with his big teeth, admiring himself in the mirror.

"Is it a kind of spell or something?"He asked the elders, but didn't wait for an answer. "Dru, was your priest into some black arts or something?"he asked the tree.

"Noo..."she answered"Look, now I grow roots!"
"Wonderful, we'll have to cut you down every time we move."Angelus said, his mood was apparently not so great anymore.

"It was an angel". Darla said, without emotion,"I've seen one before, but this one was stronger probably some old saint that has earned his reward in heaven." William shook his head to avoid getting his mane in his eyes,"What a bloody waste of energy", he said"why didn't it just kill us?"

"Berries!"Drusilla's happy voice reached them from the bed, now looking almost like a garden, with all the green, and purple, and red. Big, juicy berries hung from Drusilla's limbs."It's tickling!"she laughed, causing a rattling sound from her body.

William took another look in the mirror. He was a pretty horse, no doubt about it, he took off his black cloak and admired the strong muscles and the...Oh heavens, "Drusilla!"he called,"you know what horses are known for? The male ones I mean!"
Darla spotted his new pride before she did, and started laughing with a shrieking sound.
"Let's look at you Angelus, my big boy, lets look at what you got!"The harpy screamed, looking more like a vulture than ever. She had apparently meant it as a joke, in her usual flirtatious way, but Angelus suddenly blushed, as there really was some real blood in the strange body of his, and glued his eyes to the carpet.
William started laughing, it was a strange, neighy sound."oh no!"he said."Don't say that...You...You don't have one do you?"
"Shut up!"Angel yelled and pulled the picture closer together around his hips."This isn't a bloody masquerade!"
"What on earth shall we do?"Darla suddenly said, while watching her childe's embarrassment, and William could swear that he saw a blinking tear in the bird's black eye.

Darla lifted her wings and flew over to sit in Drusilla's crone, she took a berry in her mouth and swallowed it, they could see it pass down her long, white neck through the skin. "Very good!"She said,"Try some of the leaves, William. Horses eat green things don't they?"
William walked over on clicking hoofs.

"What do you say, luv? Shall I taste your fruits? Make you rattle with wanting?" His lids were lowered over dark, brown eyes, in a gesture he hoped was seductive. He opened his mouth and let his big tongue gently lick one of her emerald leaves.

Darla laughed;"As long as she's growing she can provide us with food during the winter. And when the spring comes around we can plant her in the garden!"
"I would like that"Drusilla answered from somewhere deep down in the green. William took one of the berries in the mouth, causing an aw, and a motion from the tree; "No don't!"She cried out,"I'm toxic!"
William instantly let go of her, and Darla bent over and vomited. The berry she had swallowed fell to the floor and smashed, exposing a green inside filled with sharp, black seeds.

Darla was furious;"You couldn't say that before?!" "It's rude to eat other people's hair", the dryad said, and waved her limbs so the harpy was forced to fly.

Angelus had watched them in silence, now he opened his moth and said;"I might not compare with your *outstanding* maleness, Will, but I surely know how to comfort Dru!" And suddenly he fell to the floor and transformed in to a white, jewel-like snake. He was as long as a man, and as thick as William was around his waist, in a non-horse condition, with amazing speed ,the snake crossed the floor and entered Dru's stem, the serpent clung himself to her tightly as it climbed her in circular movement, his little cliffed tongue licked her bark as he went, forcing her to giggle, and rattle.

"Great, Adam and Eve, huh?"William spoke.
"That would be The Snake and the tree", Darla answered from her beam, she focused on the playing serpent;"A shape shifter my boy, I must say..."

William sat down in one of the huge, leather arm-chairs and stroked his tail, he suddenly looked sad. His big, animal eyes stared at the mirror,"You're all so special! What am I? A horse! That's what I am! A sodden' horse!"
"But what a horse!"Darla answered with her eyes looking down between his thighs, William hardly gave her a glance;
"Like I would do a bird!"
Darla flew off, deeply offended he assumed, and placed herself on the french cutch.

"I'm bored! Are we done playing soon? Miss Edith should be in bed by now, and I'm tired too...Can we get back to normal again? I'm tired of being a tree!"Drusilla spoke, and shook the serpent off her limbs.
- And a deep silence filled the room.

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

The hours went by, and they mostly just stared at each other as the horror of the situation started to come clear, Angelus was a man again, a very worried man, or demon, Drusilla whimpered from the bed;
"I don't want to be like this...I want to have fangs! I want to suck blood!"

William answered her patiently,"So will we all, dearest. We all want to be able to walk out at night without being laughed at!"
"Speak for yourself,"Angelus smiled with a devilish grin on his face.

Darla shook her feathers;"I've never seen anything like this...Oh god! What will the master say?!"
Angelus became even paler,"He'll have us killed like humans. No mercy there!" Drusilla seemed distant again, like she'd switched reality while they were talking. "Darla,"she said"Do you want to nest in me?"

The evil bird didn't offer her any attention but continued the brooding session with the males, William was still insecure about his demon nature,"There must be something I can do. I can't just be a grass eating, less than scary, old horse!"
"Do you feel like eating grass?"Angelus asked him.
"No!"
"Then chances are you don't eat it either! What do you feel like eating?" "Blood!"The horse answered"...And hay!"
The harpy named Darla laughed that horrible laugh again, while basking with her wings in his face.

And suddenly something happened, as his anger rose his eyes turned fiery red and thick smoke floated out from his nose, when he opened his mouth flames shot out from his gap. Happy again his eyes turned back to normal, horse eyes;
"See, I can do that!"he said and leaned back in the chair."
You burned me!"Drusilla complained, showing off a pair of sooty leaves." Me too"Darla stated while cleaning a couple of feathers with her little, pink tongue!
"He nearly put the place on fire!"Angel added.
But William smiled, with his big, big teeth.

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

It was almost daylight, and Drusilla almost filled the room, frustration and hunger ate on their nerves.
"You and your stupid plans!"Angelus yelled at William.
"Don't step on me!"Drusilla complained. "Get out of my lap, you silly bird!"William yelled at Darla, with spirals of smoke streaming out of his nose.
"I miss my fangs", Drusilla's shivering voice.

And they knew this might be just the beginning of days and nights like this.

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

NOT FAR, from the Vampires' Lair, this same night of Halloween:

"That bastard !"Once again Mrs Jennifer Gordon had to leave her bed before dawn, haunted by bitterness and anger as she was, the sleep fled from her."That little rat!"She said, while her fingers whitened around the handkerchief in her hand.

"Not a word!"She whispered."Not even an excuse!"She pictured him in her head, with a butcher's knife in his chest, the image made her smile.

Just a few more hours now and her children would wake up, another day with half-hidden smiles when they walked the streets, or more direct, looks of disgust when people's eyes fell on her. The old woman who suddenly gave birth to a couple of twins, boy and girl, more than three years after her husband died.

Not a pretty picture! people didn't like that!

Once again she cursed that bastard who left her without a word, she had sent spies on him, knew he was alive, lived in some decadent household with two women and a man, slept all day, out all night. - Rat!"She said again. Picturing his blonde hair, and his clear blue eyes, just like the children, and even more obvious for the neighbors."Everybody"had noticed that handsome young man that gave old Mrs Gordon piano lessons.

- Of course, she didn't think that he loved her, but when she realized she was pregnant she had offered him a good life, a big inheritance, and the odds were, many happy years without her. He had agreed on that, even been good to her, made her feel like he would become a good husband to her, instead she was left with the shame.

- She hated herself for being fooled, talked into bed like a young, innocent virgin.

But he was so beautiful, so nice, and he said all those pretty things! - And had Jennifer Gordon loved him? - Yes...She had. With all her heart, and soul.

"Stupid cow"she whispered to herself when the door swung open. Rose came in with her morning-tea.
"Another sleepless night, Mrs.. Gordon?"she asked, with sincere compassion.
Rose had only been there for a few days, but had already become a great support for her mistress, Rose put down the hot tea on the table.
"Thinking about him again, aren't you?"Rose was the child of a unmarried woman herself, and knew all the difficulties, she had probably seen her own mother sitting like this several times!
"Yes, it's hard not too. Not a word! After two years...I still can't help but hope. I'm so stupid! Like he would just show up at the door and make things right again...That bastard!"

Rose straightened her back and met Jennifer Gordon's gaze,"Don't you wish..."
Mrs. Gordon's eyes were filled with hatred."I wish for him and those new friends of his that they will struggle with each other for eternity, with bonds that can't be broken even by death, I wish for them to live with each other and hate and fight and lose each other. Like the bad people that they are!"
- The demon Anyanka turned around,"Done!"She said.
And so it was.
And in Mrs Gordon's teacup, a sparkling green jewel appeared as the madam took her first sip.

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

Darla fell down from the beam, and hit the floor with a nasty sound of breaking bones. The vampires looked at each other, amazed. Their demon forms were gone. they looked like people again, just like before the transformation.
"What exactly happened now?"Angelus asked.
"I'm hungry!"Drusilla answered.
William used a pillow to cover up his no longer so impressive nudity.
"Who cares! We're back ! That's all!"
Angelus helped Darla up from the floor and placed her on the sofa.
"That's right, William my boy! With the whole wonderful eternity in front of us!"

THE END






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