The Scarlet Letter

Shocked at the sight of Drusilla reclining on his bed, Xander tripped over his skateboard and fell to the floor. Wide-eyed and terrified, he scrambled backwards across the cluttered carpet as the vampire rose to her feet. He shrieked when he bumped into the bedroom door.

"H-how...how did you get in here?" Xander fumbled with the door handle and fought to pull himself up.

"Your Mummy got lost inside my eyes," she giggled. Before he could even tell she'd moved, Drusilla had Xander pushed up flat against the door.
m? m? No, please tell me you didn't..."

"Hush. She is of no consequence to you." Drusilla stroked the trembling boy's cheek. "You do not belong in this mortal world, you belong to Angelus. But I can be your new Mummy! Would you like that?" She brushed against Xander in a manner that was anything but maternal.

"Uh, that would be a big NO FREAKING WAY!" Xander shoved against Drusilla with all his strength. She slipped on some magazines strewn on the floor and lost her grip, allowing Xander to escape down the hallway.

"Mom! Dad! Oh, God! Answer me!" He threw open his parents' bedroom door, but found the room empty.

/where are they, where are they, my fault, my fault, they're dead and it's all my fault/

Xander heard something moving downstairs, and felt a surge of hope. "Mom! Dad! Get out of the house! Get out!" He raced for the top of the stairway.

"And where do you think you're going, noisy kitten?" Drusilla caught Xander by the arm, and twisted it behind his back.

"Get your hands off of me!"

With a frantic jerk, Xander was able to wrench himself free, but lost his balance on the top step. He crashed down the flight of stairs, tumbling head over heels. He cried out when his leg slammed into the banister with a bone-crunching thud.

Xander landed in a twisted heap at the bottom of the stairwell. His shoulder felt dislocated, his back was sore, and if the shooting pain wasn't enough of an indication, the strange tilt to his leg confirmed that it was broken.

Gasping in pain, Xander turned his head and could see into the living room. It was much too quiet for a typical evening in the Harris household. His parents weren't arguing about money, "WWF Smackdown" wasn't blaring from the television, and Uncle Rory wasn't regaling anyone with stories about Nadia, the three-nippled stripper.

Instead, his mother sat alone on the flowered love seat, staring at a blank television screen. Her eyes were glazed over, and she made chewing motions as she raised her hand to her mouth, like a mime eating imaginary popcorn.

"Did you finish studying, dear?" she asked, her voice a lifeless monotone. She lifted another non-existent handful of popcorn to her lips.

"Mom, listen to me," Xander groaned. "Hurry, you have to take Dad and get out of here, you have to..."

"Willow is such a sweet girl, Xander, always so thoughtful. I sent her upstairs so she could help you with your homework. Did you thank her for bringing your assignments over?" Munch, munch.

"Didn't you hear what I said? Please, leave now, or she'll kill you!" Mrs. Harris ignored him, oblivious to his panic. "Mom, what's wrong with you?" Xander tried not to black out as he dragged himself across the hall to the living room, while Drusilla leisurely descended down the stairs.

"What the hell did you do to her?"

With a devilish glint in her eyes, Drusilla put her finger to her lips. "Shhh. It's a secret." Her long, blue velvet dress swished softly with each dainty step. She leaned down, patted Xander on the head like a good dog, and stepped over him. She glided into the living room while Xander screamed at his mother to snap out of her trance.

"Mother
"T
"Time to say good-bye," Drusilla murmured dreamily. She smiled back at Xander, and changed into her true vampiric face.

"No! Drusilla, don't! Please, you don't have to do this!"

"Leaving so soon, Willow?" asked Mrs. Harris, still zombie-like as Drusilla approached. "Give my best to your mother."

His insides twisted into a knot, Xander watched with horror as Drusilla sat down on the love seat, and swept his mother's hair off her shoulder.

/Think, Xander, think, or she's going to kill her!/

"Would you like a bite before you go?" Mrs. Harris offered Drusilla the invisible bowl of popcorn from her lap.

"Ooh, yes!" giggled Drusilla. She bared her fangs and lunged in for the kill.

"Drusilla, wait!" shouted Xander. She paused to listen to him, poised inches away from his mother's neck. "Y-you don't have time for that. Angel is waiting for us! We need to go to him - right now."

"But I'm hungry," pouted Drusilla. "I tried to eat the other one, but he was full of poison. Tasted foul, like one of the unfortunates." She wrinkled her nose.

/Other one? Dad? I can't see him! She killed him...Oh, God, she must have already killed him!/

His mother...his father...they may not have been the ideal parents, but Xander loved them and certainly didn't want them dying because of him. Torn with grief, Xander had to force himself to focus on the deadly situation at hand. He couldn't afford to lose it now, or there was no chance his mother would survive. He ha get get Drusilla away from her.

Xander steeled himself, then raked his fingernails across his abused neck, fighting back sobs when the blood started to well. "But...but...w-wouldn't you rather have some of this?"

Drusilla eyed him hungrily, and uncoiled herself from the couch. "Oh, yes...but Daddy said I mustn't, not without permission."

Desperately hoping that his gambit would work, Xander held out his bloody fingers to entice Drusilla closer. "Prom-promise me that you'll let her go, and it'll be our little secret."

"Clever boy." Drusilla slinked over to where Xander huddled on the floor, and knelt beside him. "Trying to distract me! Such a delicious distraction, so sweet, like cakes with jam." She caressed his bare arm and shoulder, and he shivered, painfully aware that he was nearly naked.

Entranced by the powerful scent, Drusilla took Xander's shaking hand and lifted his bloodied fingers to her lips. Before she licked them, she stopped and shook her head. "No, I mustn't disobey him. Your blood belongs to Angelus alone, and he will not tolerate thievery." She frowned and reluctantly released him.

A split second later, her face lit up in a mischievous smile. "If I can't have jam, I'll settle for cream!"

"What?"

Drusilla tossed Xander onto his back, and he moaned when his shoulder protested the rough treatment. "Clumsy boy got himself all broken." Her feline eyes danced excitedly as she poked and prodded his swollen, fractured leg, enjoying Xander's agonized cries, like a cat toying with a captured mouse.

Unable to withstand the pain any longer, his eyes flooded with tears. "Please, don't, you're killing me!" Xander screamed when she set the broken bone with a brutal snap.

"Kids, please keep it down over there. Iryinrying to watch the movie." Munch, munch. Mrs. Harris's eyes remained transfixed on the empty television screen.

"No, there will be no death for you." Drusilla pressed her finger to Xander's lips. He whimpered as she trailed her finger over his chin, across his throat, down his chest. She traced a circle around the tattoo. "No matter how much you may wish for it." When he tried to bat her hand away, she growled and gripped his wrist tightly in her other hand. She grinned down at him, her yellow eyes gleaming as she slipped a hand below his waistband.

He moaned when she cupped him. Xander writhed on the ground, trying to pull away, but her hand was persistent. Soft, cool fingers kneaded reluctant, wrinkled flesh, cajoling it to life. "Don't hide, come out to play," she teased, her lips hovering just above him. With her teeth, she pulled his boxers down. "Grrr! Ruff! I want to see it angry!"

Xander gasped when she licked him, nudging him against her lips. Being a seventeen-year-old boy, it didn't take much stimulation for Xander to respond. He'd once gotten hard simply by bumping against an attractive clothes mannequin at the mall.

/No, no, no! What the hell is wrong with me? No, I can't do this, please make her stop!/

Suppressing his arousal proved to be impossible. He tried to remember that she was a killer, someone who had seriously hurt him, and that his own *mother* sat only twelve feet away, but at the moment his traitorous body could only register that /oh-sweet-mother-of-God/ a woman's lips had closed around his cock.

He gripped Drusilla's hair and tried to pull her head away, but she was too strong, and held him captive between her lips. He moaned as she took him deep into her throat, wincing when he felt her fangs glide against his cock with reckless speed. When he struggled, she growled and pinched his injured leg to force him to submit. He froze, afraid to move too much, clenching her hair tightly as Drusilla milked him with thirsty vigor.

Humiliated by his failure to ward off Drusilla, Xander tried to console himself that he had no choice. If he hadn't "distracted" her, his mother would be dead. Xander's breathing became more rapid while Drusilla worked him feverishly, urging him forward.

/Oh God, just come, get it over with, get her off of me!/

When he came, his sorrow erupted in a ragged groan. Drusilla grasped the base of his cock, lapping and swallowing hungrily, savoring every tremor until he was completely emptied. Xander panted softly, blinking back tears, as Drusilla tucked him back into his shorts. Contented, she licked the tiny white pearls away from the corners of her smile, and smoothed her tousled hair.

/This is what my life has become? Sucking...fucking...letting them steal my life away? How much more can they take until there's nothing left of me?/

Drusilla laughed and snapped the elastic on his waistband. "You are a very good boy, Alexander! Mummy is so pleased with you." She stole a kiss, and Xander was embarrassed that he could actually taste himself on her lips.

He rubbed his mouth, eager to rid himself of the memory. When he noticed Drusilla peering at his mother, he clutched at her skirt. "She gets to live...that was the deal."

She nodded, and her features melted back into her human guise. "Our little secret," she chuckled.

"Honey, are you going out tonight?" asked Mrs. Harris. "Be careful out there. There are lots of drousrous characters running around Sunnydale these days."

"Not to worry, mum. I'll take good care of him." Drusilla petted Xander's hair and hummed a tune he didn't recognize. He didn't bother trying to move away. What was the point? How far could he get with a bum leg? And no matter where he ran, they would find him. He was caught.

He closed his eyes, feeling abused, bruised, and too spent to move. He didn't want to think about what was in store for him, and he didn't want to feel anything anymore. All the damage and emotional upheaval had taken theoll,oll, and he finally surrendered to exhaustion.

/I wish I could just...keep...falling.../

Sleep beckoned forth the comforting blackness, the void where fear and pain didn't exist, the only place where Xander would ever feel safe.

Drusilla watched him for a few moments while he slept, like a mother admiring a newborn baby. She cradled the battered young man in her arms, and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed no more than a rag doll. She kissed Xander's forehead as she carried him outside into the night.

"Sleep, my precious boy. The darkness will restore you. When you awaken, you'll be in your new home, and Daddy will be so pleased to see you!"

===== CONTINUED IN PART 10 =====