The Path That Wasn't Taken [For seewhatmightbe]

[a_pretty_fire]

The night was black as coal. The same colour as her heart. The same colour as a tongue that had been corrupted by filthy little lies. Usually, Drusilla would have relished that. But things were different now.

She and her new doll had been together for a week, feasting and dancing and drinking in the moonlight. Full of potential, she was. For goodness or for wickedness, depending on who found her first.

For Drusilla, the path was as clear as the blade of a knife. She had found Alice first. She would fashion her sweet little girl into the vampire that she deserved to be.

Angelus had sculpted her. Now it was time for his little girl to make a masterpiece of her own.

"Alice?" she murmured, slipping silently into her companion's hotel room, "Are you dreaming?"

What are you dreaming of, my dear? Are you seeing the future I'm going to build for you?

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[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice was sprawled on her stomach, her feet in the air, resting - well, to the extent that she needed to rest, where others might sleep she took time to have her own thoughts. Seeing Drusilla, she hurriedly rearranged herself in a decidedly more ladylike sitting position, focused on some middle distance. "There are two different paths, it seems. And I've chosen to go down one and not the other."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

She'd seen it, then. Drusilla wasn't surprised. Her darling Alice was a clever girl. She was special. Because she was a vampire and because she saw the things that other people didn't dare to see.

"I want to tell you a story," Drusilla murmured, sitting down next to Alice.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"What sort of story?" Alice asked. She was curious, though she knew she would like listening no matter what the story held.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"A nice story."

Sitting down next to Alice, Drusilla made herself comfortable. It wasn't a long story - she could cut out a lot of it, for simplicities sake and because they were Daddy's adventures to tell - but it was a terribly important one.

"It's about a little girl."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"Is it!" Alice sounded intrigued, and she would likely be the best audience Drusilla had ever had, just naturally. She was so very fond of most anything Dru said, really.

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"Once upon a time," she said, in the soft voice of a story teller, "There was a little girl. She had ribbons in her hair and a plum tree at the bottom of her garden."

It was important to set the scene.

"The plums were ripe and rich and juicy, but they shrivelled on the branches. With every year that passed, the devil crept closer. He snapped at her heels and put his pictures in her head."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"Did anyone else know?"

It wasn't that she couldn't imagine how the story might end. She was just listening actively, and that meant getting engaged in the story.

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"She told her family. They cursed her. Cast her out as a sinner and told her she must be mad."

It was good to see the enthusiasm that was painted on Alice's face. She wanted to hear the rest of the story, even if she already knew how it would end.

"But she couldn't shut them out. Couldn't push them away. The pictures were part of her."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice figured that she could be speaking of either of them, at that point. "They are," she agreed.

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"The little girl wasn't free - from the doubt and the guilt and the fear - until she died. And then she saw that the pictures were part of her. Under her skin and in her head and not something to be ashamed of."

Not either of them. Both of them.

"She could choose. She could be a prisoner or she could follow the path to the stars and to her freedom."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"Of the choices, freedom wins out, I'd think," Alice murmured.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"Good girl."

Such a good girl. Drusilla found herself filling up to the brim with pride. It threatened to overflow, washing across the room like the richest and darkest tide of blood any vampire had ever seen.

"Then you don't need to worry about the path you didn't walk down, do you, my pet?"

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice shook her head, a bit more certain. "No point in worrying."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"I see such a bright future for us," she added, in case Alice needed further encouragement. Her mind was balanced ever so delicately. Drusilla didn't want to tip the scales in the wrong direction. "All for us."

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"It will be splendid," Alice nodded in agreement, impulsively leaning a bit closer seeking what could only be described as motherly affection. "Terribly splendid."

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When she remembered what the role entailed, Drusilla was an affectionate parent. She wrapped an arm, even so gently, around Alice's shoulder.

"I'll catch the stars for you," she vowed. "I'll give you the moon."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice smiled, meeting Dru's eyes. "I'll live up to them," she promised in return.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"I never doubted it, sweetest heart."

She leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice just smiled, giving a contented sigh. "It's really quite marvelous."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"We deserve it."

After all they'd been through as humans, they deserved it. They deserved fun and freedom and life after death.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

They did. And grateful as she was, Alice was in a sentimental sort of mood, too; she felt like sharing. "I'm -- I'm thankful. Thankful and happy."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"What else makes you happy?" Drusilla asked, raising a hand to stroke Alice's hair. She had beautiful hair. It fitted her. A porcelain doll, she was. All red lips and wide eyes. "I want my pet to be happy."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice mulled over this for a moment. Plenty of things did, but she wanted to give the best answer. Smiling sweetly, she thought aloud. "Oh -- anything pretty, really. Pretty dresses, or pretty songs." Her eyes glinted. "Pretty boys, too."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

And it was the perfect answer. The answer that Drusilla would have given herself.

"We need to go shopping," she noted, "We need new dresses."

For some reason, she couldn't keep the blood out of her skirts.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"We do," Alice agreed. She loved shopping a little too much. And everything she had was just getting ruined slowly.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

Drusilla didn't like or dislike shopping. As long as she had an ample supply of pretty dresses, she didn't care where they came from. It was fun to play with the shop keepers, though. They squirmed ever so much.

"Shall we?" she asked, "It'll be my treat."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Alice couldn't help but beam. "I think we shall."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"And jewellry," added Drusilla, rising gratefully and smoothing out her skirts. "Rubies and emeralds and sapphires like stars."

She imagined them dancing down the street with a ring on each finger, shining in the light of the street lamps.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"Shining so lovely," Alice chimed in. Oh, it did appeal.

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"Then why are we waiting?" exclaimed Drusilla, laughing and smiling and acting, for all the world, as if Alice was the one who'd kept them indoors. The story had been important, yes, but it had been told and it was time to move on to other things.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

It was a whim, and Alice could certainly adapt to those. "I haven't the slightest idea," she returned, matching the giggle and devil-may-care attitude with her own.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

That was how Drusilla lived. From whim to whim. She was caught up in the idea of shopping for dresses and made no attempt to untangle herself.

"Come along, Alice," she said, tugging at her hand.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Alice followed obligingly, never being one to make a fuss. "I think I should like a pretty pink," she declared musingly.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"Not red?" Drusilla asked, with genuine curiosity in her bright blue eyes. That was her colour of choice. Red for blood, black for the night and, sometimes, white. White because they didn't realise that she was no longer innocent.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"Oh, red would be lovely, too. Pink can just be so charming." Much for the same reasons as Drusilla's enjoying white, really.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"Whatever you want, my little princess," said Drusilla absently. As she led the way down the stairs and into the dark street, she wondered which shop to choose. They'd be closed, of course. They were always closed at this time of night. That didn't matter.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Should someone attempt to make it matter, it's a certainty that they would regret it. But Alice was surprisingly new to the take-what-you-want game, and glad she had someone to follow. "It's a bit foggy tonight," she murmured.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

Drusilla wasn't a natural teacher. She tended to drift through life without waiting to see if her pupil was following. But if Alice was quick a lot, she'd learn an awful lot from her.

"Misty," she corrected, "For mystery."

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"That is a more poetic way of seeing it," Alice agreed thoughtfully. "Makes it sound -- thrilling, rather."

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm not a poet," said Drusilla, tossing her head and giving Alice an indulgent smile. "I just have good eyes."

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

"I should say," Alice murmured. She looked at her feet for a moment. "I should like to dance, a bit," she sighed.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"Then dance," Drusilla chided, "No one will stop you."

She'd snap their necks if they tried, wrapping them up in bows and blood and giving them to the crows for Christmas.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Doing things as soon as she thought of them was still a bit new for Alice, and she couldn't help but skip and twirl a bit upon the encouragement, beaming.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"Good girl. That's my princess."

Drusilla words were soft and warm. She murmured to make sure that Alice didn't stop and she smiled because it was a beautiful sight indeed.

[seewhatmightbe.livejournal.com]

Still twirling, she tipped her head to Drusilla and asked, "Do you feel like dancing as well?" It was so much fun, after all.

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

"I'm always dancing," she said, though she usually did it on the inside. In response to Alice's entreaties, Drusilla pirouetted gracefully.