Cenodoxus: Chapter 2
“I think we can safely rule out anything requiring ritual sacrifice of virgins or infants. Or both.”
“Good, because I’m firmly in favor of ruling those things out.” Buffy made a face.
“Yes, well, aren’t we all?” Giles studied the shelves of books in the Hyperion’s new library.
A large section of the parking garage had been converted into a research area. Being partly underground, it was both easily defendable and safely out of sight of any parents who might visit. A normal – parent safe – library was housed across the alley at the school itself.
“We can skip the ones that require mass quantities of blood and other components or that take several days to finish the incantations.” Willow scrolled down the list of categories on the computer screen. “He needs to be able to do whatever he’s doing around other people with nobody suspecting anything.”
“Stinky incense would be a tip off, too.” Buffy watched with amusement as Giles and Willow competed to find the answer first. It was almost like the old days back in Sunnydale. Xander had rounded up an assortment of nourishing junk food, she was pretending to look through a book on the Rites of Immortality while really reading a People magazine tucked inside, and Angel was brooding.
He’d grabbed a book from a shelf and slouched into the chair next to her to read. Only Angel could read and brood at the same time. It was an attractive skill.
“It could be a Orconian ritual.” Giles plucked a book from a shelf and looked through it. “Minimal supplies are needed.”
“Which are almost impossible to find and very expensive if you do. It could be a Eikejo amulet.” Willow pulled up an image on the screen. “Easily hidden beneath clothing.”
“And the last Eikejo amulet was seen around 915 AD, I believe.” He countered.
“He could have a portrait in the attic.” When they turned to look at her, clearly surprised, Buffy pouted. “I do read, you know.”
“Oh, like the guy in the movie we saw last week? That Dorian Gray guy!” Xander flinched as Buffy glared at him. “What? You made fun of the vampire chick the whole time.”
“She kept looking into a mirror! And she was out in the sunshine!” Buffy stuck her tongue out at Xander. “And I could have read the book. It was assigned in ninth grade. Or was it tenth grade? I dunno, but it was probably boring anyway.”
“She wasn’t fully turned.”
“What?” Buffy turned to Angel. He’d spoken so softly she’d missed what he said.
“She wasn’t fully turned.” He said again. “That’s why she still had a reflection and why she could still go out in the sun.”
“So she was a half formed vampire?” She frowned. “I thought it was just a big plot hole.”
“There’s no such thing as a half formed vampire, Buffy.” Giles continued to scan the shelves. “One is either turned or one is not. There is no halfway.”
“That’s a polite way of saying you’re fangy or you’re dead.” Shifting his eye patch over his good eye, Xander laid his head back. “Wake me when we need more munchies.”
“Would you stop that?” Buffy looked away. Caleb gouging Xander’s eye out still replayed in her nightmares.
“Stoker believed that three bites were required to turn a person into a vampire.” Angel held up the book he’d been reading. “Mina wasn’t bitten three times, so at the end of the book, she’s not a vampire but she’s not human any longer.”
“There’s some absurd theory of curing her as I recall.” Giles made a dismissive gesture. “Total tripe. The entire book is some of the most ridiculous vampire fiction ever published.”
“Not necessarily.”
Angel had everyone’s attention now – even Xander sat up and shifted his eye patch back to where it belonged.
“Stoker hung out on the fringes of vampire society. There was a huge interest in the supernatural at the time. The zodiac, satanic rites, spiritualists.” A humorless laugh told his opinion of the whole thing. “Really just an excuse for orgies and the deflowering of virgins mostly. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes.”
“Are you saying there’s a real basis to Bram Stoker’s work?” Abandoning his research, Giles pulled out a chair and sat down across from Angel.
“Somewhat. Stoker stayed on the very edges – more of an observer than a participant. He’d go with one of his friends and then sit back and watch.” A sneer curled Angel’s lips. “He’d supply young girls and boys – virgins – from time to time. Then he’d ‘observe’ the feeding.”
“Supply how?”
“He’d purchase them from orphanages or poor houses. It was a fairly common practice at the time.”
“So much for simpler times.” Willow made a face.
“Stoker did research, but without firsthand experience, he could only go by what he thought was happening.” Angel tossed the book on the table. “And he never even met Dracula. He made him up.”
“Wait a minute, I’ve met Dracula. He’s real.” Xander remembered all too well being Dracula’s butt monkey. “He’s very real.”
“He’s real. But he’s not a vampire, per se.” Angel conceded.
“Okay, you scare me when you talk like Giles.” Buffy kidded him. “But agreeing to your per seeing, he didn’t dust when he should have.”
“Dracula is a succubus of some kind, he feeds more on the will and the soul than blood. But he was just some backwater demon living off his grandfather’s rep until Stoker used his name for his vampire. Now Dracula’s the vampire.”
“But you’re not bitter.” Xander smirked.
“Of that gypsy freak?” Angel snorted. “Please. I don’t need a cape and a funny accent to get women. And I don’t have to hypnotize them either.”
“How come Stoker’s vampires don’t have the forehead ridges and stuff?” Willow pulled up images on a respected Dracula site. “The description of Dracula is that he looks pretty normal except for ‘peculiarly sharp white teeth’ and that’s nothing like the real thing.”
“Sex sells, even in the Victorian age.” Angel smiled slightly. “The hero has to be handsome, and forehead ridges aren’t attractive.”
“Depends on the vamp.” Buffy winked at him. She thought Angel’s forehead ridges were sexy.
Giles picked up the book Angel had discarded. “Dear Lord, this is a first edition! And – is this Bram Stoker’s signature?”
“Spike always had an odd sense of humor.”
“You were just jealous you weren’t in the book.” Angel turned to glare at the other vampire as he came out from behind a set of shelves, but Spike ignored him. “We need more books on blood play. Our vamp erotica section is sorely lacking."
“We have a vamp erotica section?” That caught Xander’s attention.
“It’s true, there aren’t half formed vampires. What Stoker saw were pets.” Angel smirked at Xander. “Like Xander was for Dracula.”
“Hey! I was nobody’s pet!” Xander protested. “I was a minion, and a damn good one!”
“A pet is someone who serves a vampire master, Xander.” A smile quirked the corner of Giles’ mouth.
That was a fancy way of putting it in Angel’s opinion. “They’re people who trade services for being bitten.”
Like Riley had done? Buffy looked up and caught Spike looking at her. She held his gaze and after a moment he looked away.
“Services? You mean…” Willow’s face flushed. “Oh. Services.”
Buffy looked at Angel, letting her gaze travel up the long legs, over the muscular torso to his beautiful face. Heat pulsed through her. She’d trade services with Angel in a heartbeat. A glint lit the chocolate eyes. He knew what she was thinking.
“What Stoker saw as a process of being turned was the formation of the bond between pet and vampire. It’s not unusual for a person to form an attachment to a particular vampire, but it’s rare for a vampire to form an attachment to a particular human. Our tastes are more… sophisticated.” He smiled at Buffy. “It takes a special quality to keep a vampire enthralled.”
Oh, yeah! I am Buffy the vampire enthraller! She wiggled in her chair.
“People really let themselves be bitten?” Willow had been up close and personal with vampires who had wanted to bite her, and it wasn’t an experience she’d care to go through more than once.
“Vampire bites are addictive.” Giles told her. “There’s a sexual rush and a heightened physical awareness that some people find quite addictive.”
I can vouch for that. Buffy shot another look at Angel from beneath her eyelashes.
A smile quirked the corner of Angel’s lips. “Sometimes a vampire will become fond of a person or find them useful enough to keep around. Since our sense of time is different than a human’s, and if the vampire is fond of them, they’ll share their blood with them. That way they age much slower and there’s also more of a bond created. It’s similar to a watered down version of the bond between sire and chylde. It ensures loyalty.”
“Loyalty?” It was hard for Willow to believe a person could be loyal to a vampire. Buffy and Angel excluded of course.
“They’ll protect and care for the vampire they’re bonded with.” Giles was back on familiar ground. The Council had compiled an entire section on human pets.
“Protect? Like a guard dog or something?” She asked.
“Exactly. They’re pets.”
“Did you – did Angelus have pets?” Buffy asked quietly.
“No. He believed that true loyalty only comes from other vampires, and even that’s not saying much.” The truth was that Angelus trusted no one but himself. Angelus was quick to point out that he’d trust Buffy. Especially if she were naked.
“Pets can be extremely dangerous. They’ll protect their master at the cost of their own life. The addiction can be treated, but recovery is quite painful and the treatment is often fatal.” The Council had detailed accounts of how people had been rescued and forced through recovery. Not always successfully. “Once separated from their master, they’ll go mad unless they’re treated and many do not survive the process.”
“Holy water, blessings – “ Angel had once seen a pet who’d escaped the gentle treatment of the Church. The man had been burned and bloody, crazed over the loss of his vampire master. Darla had used it as an excuse for them to invade and massacre the nearby abbey. Angelus held fond memories of the tender young novices he’d found there.
“So this is what Stoker based his vampire lore on? Human pets?” A chuckle escaped Giles. “I was right all along, his book is a pile of rubbish.”
“He probably never saw anyone turned.” One way to keep humans coming back to be fed on was not to let them see the reality. “It’s rare for a pet to be turned. Someone’s either turned right away or not at all." Angel shrugged carelessly. "Why turn the maid, if you know what I mean.”
“There is one very famous case, however. He wrote a diary of his experiences both as a pet and then as a vampire.” Giles got up to go in search of the book. “Perhaps it will give us some clues.”
“So this general guy, he’s a vampire’s pet?” It didn’t sound reasonable to Buffy. “The Initiative doesn’t have the type of guys who let vamps chomp on them.” Spike looked at her and she colored as she remembered once again that Riley had done just that.
“Well, he wouldn’t have to. With their labs, he’d have access to vamp blood.” Willow reminded her. “I’m sure they draw blood for tests, so he could just get a vial whenever he needed it.”
“That makes sense. Then he wouldn’t be bound to any one vampire.” Angel could appreciate the simplicity of the plan. All the benefits and none of the cost. Angelus on the other hand, was completely offended.
“Here it is!” Rushing back to the table, Giles began leafing through the book he’d found. “Edmund Bosworth describes the various changes he went through.”
“Bosworth?” Angel snorted. “I met him, he was a buffoon. Always going on about being privileged and chosen.”
“You forgot how honored he was.” Spike added with a roll of his eyes. “Privileged, chosen, and honored.”
“Of course, how could I forget how honored he was?” Angel mocked.
“I believe that he says here that his eyes became more sensitive to light.” Scanning the text, Giles found the passage. “'After some weeks, I began to find my eyes quite sensitive to the light of the sun. My trips to the market must be made at early morn or near dusk else my eyes water furiously.'”
“Sam said Mallory’s been wearing sunglasses. And only going out when it’s not sunny.” Buffy told him.
“If I remember correctly…” Giles turned a few more pages. “There’s more about the changes Bosworth went through. Ah, here! ‘My skin began to itch unbearably and I was forced to seek shelter within a bookseller’s until the sun began to wane. Once home again, Lady Daphne soothed my skin with the creams I make for her. Her delicate touch aroused me as always and I –‘ Well… " He snapped the book shut. "I believe that describes the situation.”
“Don’t stop there.” Spike leered. “You’re just getting to the interesting part.”
Buffy smiled at the embarrassed look on Giles’ face. She’d have to get a hold of that book and see what secrets it could tell her about vamps.
“Mallory’s out on cloudy days, with sunglasses, and he hasn’t aged in sixty years.” Angel looked around the table. “It’s the most logical conclusion so far.”
“Clean and neat.” Willow agreed. “No magic required and no witnesses.”
“Except… how did he find out? It’s not exactly common knowledge.” A frown furrowed Angel’s forehead.
“We didn’t search the sub. Who knows what other information was down there?” Spike reminded him. “The Kraut was sittin’ on the mind control stuff – which I burned. Now that’s the real question, by the way. How the hell did they figure that out without those papers?”
“Lawson read it. He may have told Mallory.” Lawson had still burned to do the ‘right’ thing even after being turned. “The Initiative was probably working on it already. Do you really think they wanted to save the men on that sub?”
“Not bloody likely.” The other vampire snorted. “They wanted the info on how to turn us into their slaves and fight their damn war for them.”
“That plan never really worked out.” A thoughtful look crossed Buffy’s face. “Still, why haven’t they put chips into more vampires? They know they work. It’d cut down on the body count – and my workload.”
“If they can’t use them as an army, why bother?” Xander said. “That’s how the military thinks. If we can’t turn an army of vamps and demons loose on our enemies – back to the drawing board.”
“This Lawson fellow, how does he tie in to all of this?” Giles asked. He’d heard the name a few times now, but wasn’t sure how he connected to Mallory.
Angel shifted uncomfortably. “Lawson was one of the soldiers on the sub.”
Spike chuckled, ignoring the glare Angel shot at him.
“The sub was damaged and Lawson was the only one who could fix it. He was dying – he’d been stabbed. So I – “ He slumped down in his chair. “I turned him.”
There was shocked silence at Angel’s confession. Buffy put her hand on his arm. “He had to.”
“Well, we could’ve let those blokes suffocate.” Spike added. “Or better yet, we could have eaten them and that way they wouldn’t have suffered. I was all for that, if you recall. That was before I got my soul back of course.”
Angel looked at Buffy’s hand, focusing on the delicate fingers. “I turned Lawson, made him fix the sub, and then I made him get out and swim for it.”
“You did what?” Giles whipped his glasses off. “You let him go? Whatever for?”
“It wasn’t his fault – what I did to him. I turned him just to save the others.” The excuse sounded lame, even to Angel. How could he explain the guilt? He’d deliberately turned the man. Until then he’d fed only on murderers and thieves, and even those he hadn’t touched in decades. And he’d never turned anyone. “I didn’t think he’d return. I didn’t think he’d survive.”
“You thought him unlikely to return?” The logic escaped Giles. “You let a dangerous creature loose on the world because you didn’t think he’d come back?”
“If it’s any consolation – “ Spike interrupted. “I was still an evil, blood sucking fiend and he made me swim for it, too.”
“You’re not helping!” Angel hissed. “I didn’t think Lawson would survive. It was close to dawn, he had no clue what he’d become, no training. I didn’t – I just didn’t think.”
“He’s right, you know.” It was a switch, defending Angel instead of attacking him, but after all, the poof was family. “I barely made it to a shady spot myself without burning up. And then some looney took a shot at me because of the jacket I’d lifted off one of those Nazi types.”
“I told you you looked stupid in that jacket.” Angel muttered.
“Okay, whatever. Lawson survived and then he joined the Initiative.” Buffy squeezed Angel’s arm. This line of questioning needed to move along. He'd already explained it to her, and she didn't like it, but Angel had done what he'd done, and it was over. “He wasn’t a captive, he was working for them.”
“Working for them?” Giles put his glasses back on. “That’s extremely odd.”
“You’re talking about a bunch of people who created a super powered demon and who then tried to use another demon to open portals with.” The Initiative didn’t rank high on the logic-o-meter in Buffy’s opinion.
“Lawson was with them until 1947 and then he vanished. He showed up at Wolfram and Hart last year and I killed him.” Short version of a complicated story. Which was how Angel preferred to keep things when it came to his past.
“It’s unlikely this Lawson fellow told Mallory about using vampire blood to extend his life.” Giles sighed. “Still, it’s not completely unknown knowledge, so it’s entirely possible that if Lawson didn’t, that Mallory obtained the information some other way.”
“I say how he did it doesn’t matter.” Willow turned back to her computer to look for the cure for someone addicted to vampire blood. “Stopping him does.”
“So now what?” Buffy eyed the book Giles had in his hands. She wanted to get it and see what else was in there. Vamp porn, who knew?
“We call Riley and let him know what we think. Let him handle it.” It wasn’t going to be that simple. It never was. But they’d make those plans tomorrow. Getting up, Angel held out a hand to Buffy.
She snatched the book from Giles’ and skipped to Angel’s side. “You didn’t tell me there was vamp porn in here.”
“Erotica.” He curled an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side. “Not porn – erotica.”
“There’s a difference?”
A slow, lazy smile was his answer.