Inell's Fanfiction Archive

Darla walked into the room, her blue eyes looking over her newest childe. He was attractive enough, with dark hair that fell into his eyes and a nice face. Not as handsome as her Angelus or even William, but he'd do. She closed her eyes, feeling the slow wave of power coming from his sleeping form. Opening them, she nodded. He had power, not as much as some, but more than any normal fledge. Of course, she was his sire. Her age and power would help protect him. She looked behind her, studying her mate. Willow's eyes were on the face of best friend, of her dead friend. Darla could hear the racing heartbeat, could feel the fear of unknown surrounding her lover.

She looked back at her childe, leaning forward as she whispered in his ear, "Wakey wakey."

Eyes opened, flashing from a greenish-brown mix to yellow then back again as the demon took possession. A look of confusion crossed his youthful face as he sat up, his eyes looking at her, "Who are you? What the hell happened? Why do I feel like this? What's that smell?"

She had to laugh, having not had to answer so many question in centuries, "Jesse, look at me. Who am I?"

He studied her, his confusion fading as he said, "My sire."

"Good," she said in a soft, soothing voice. "Do you remember what happened?"

He kept his eyes on hers as he thought, the demon trying to piece together memories from its dead human self. She remembered clearly how difficult that had been for her, for all of their kind. She saw him nod, "I remember an alley, leaving with a girl. You're Willow's friend, aren't you? She bit me, hard. That's all I remember. What's that smell?"

She saw his eyes flashing yellow as he sniffed the air, knowing that he was smelling the sweet ambrosia of Willow's blood. Her eyes flashed yellow as she said, "Mine."

He was clearly confused, moving to see behind Darla. His face lit up and a large smile crossed it as he said, "Wills!"

"Jesse," she said quietly, her voice shaky, her eyes uncertain. He was her friend, but he wasn't. She was as confused as he was, not sure exactly what to expect. Would he be the same? She doubted it. It just couldn't be possible. He was dead now, a demon. Darla had explained so much to her during their nights together, about the demon and the struggle for control. About the fledges that never learned to control the power and ended up dead. She knew that Darla being Jesse's sire was a good thing, that her lover had age and strength that she passed along to her best friend. Would that make him different from other vampires that she had met? Who was she kidding? She had yet to meet any except for Darla and Father. They were both so ancient, so powerful, that they didn't really count as normal vampires. Even that man in the street, he had given off power that she could feel. Jesse had a small bit of power, but it was far more weak than any of the others she had met. He was young, though. With time, it would become more strong.

"Why are you hiding from me?" he asked, his tone hurt. He sniffed the air again, realizing that the sweet scent was coming from his best friend. "You smell so good."

"You're hungry, childe," Darla said, her eyes narrowing as she caught his attention. "Willow is mine. My mate. For her, I sired you. You were dying. She chose to allow you to live, in a way. As my childe, you obey me, my father and my mate. Is that understood?"

He nodded, feeling strangely pleased that Willow had chosen to save him. He was still confused, but not so confused that he believed death would have been better than this, whatever this was. "What am I?"

"Why, my darling, you're a vampire," Darla said, laughing at his statement. "A creature of the night, a blood sucking fiend, a child of darkness," looking at Willow, she asked in amusement, "What other clichéd terms have been used to describe my kind?"

"Servants of the devil?" Willow said, "I think some movie used that tag line."

"Silly humans. Do they really think they understand my kind well enough to create 'tag lines' concerning us?" Darla asked, annoyance in her eyes. "I still wish I had killed Stoker when I had the chance. He was there, in front of me, that evening at the market. Like that," she snapped her fingers, "I might have saved our kind for putting up with Dracula and other silly notions."

"I thought Dracula was a real person," Willow pointed out, amusement in her eyes despite the seriousness of the situation. She had listened to Darla during several rants about authors that created the mythology of vampires that was so silly and unrealistic it made her blood boil. Of course, her lover had to reluctantly admit that a few things had been gotten right. But to her, the ridiculousness of most of the stories far outweighed the accurate details.

"He is. Lovely chap though a bit loopy," Darla made a motion at the side of her head with her index finger. "Arrogant bastard after Stoker finished writing that garbage. No bit of historic detail true, but Vlad enjoys the fame and notoriety with a typical male ego."

"Vampires don't exist," Jesse continued to whisper to himself, ignoring Willow and Darla's conversation.

Willow looked at her friend, forgetting that he was a vampire and just seeing that he was confused and upset. It was her fault. She had asked Darla to change him. Moving to his side, she took his hand. "Jesse, hon, they do exist. You're one now. Darla is your sire, your mother if you will. She's promised to teach you everything that you need to know to survive, to be part of the family. You need to accept it so you can begin learning."

"Willow, how?" he asked, shaking his head. "Vampires are evil. I've seen the Lost Boys. They end up dead, turned to ash, as the good guys walk off into the sunrise. I'm evil."

"No, you're not. And they aren't. Well, some of them are, but some humans are evil. You're going to be whatever you want to be. I love Darla. I love you. Do you think I could love someone evil?" she asked, moving her fingers over his hand.

"You? Never," he said, his demon remembering the love and friendship his human self had felt for this redhead.

"There. See? You can't be evil," she said with a small smile.

Darla moved forward, putting her hand possessively on Willow's shoulder as she told Jesse, "You must be hungry. I'll have someone fetch you something young and tasty. We can continue this conversation after you've fed. Give yourself some time. I'll be back after I take Willow home."

"Feed?" he repeated, his face cringing as he imagined what consisted of. Then, he thought of the lovely blood entering his mouth and its warmth going down his throat and his eyes flashed yellow. He would feed. Then he would speak to his sire about learning everything that he needed to know.

"Never let the hunger overwhelm you," Darla said quietly, giving him his first lesson. "You control it. It does not control you. You can survive for months without feeding, if you wish. Never forget that when it begins to take over your demon and your mind. You are always in control."

With those words, she took Willow's hand and left, closing the door on her newest childe as she led Willow out of the lair, stopping off long enough to have a whispered conversation with one of the minions, telling him to find Jesse something to eat for his first meal. Looking back at Willow, she smiled as she and her mate left.