Love, Lust, and Life in L.A.: Uninhibited
by faith_slayer89
Chapter Three: Uninhibited
"You know, I didn't know demons could be vampires," Katherine continued casually, loading the crossbow once more. "I guess you really do learn something new every day."
Spike gave her an odd look.
"What are you talking about?" Grey asked, panicked. "Don't point that thing at me!"
Katherine aimed the crossbow at his heart.
"Pet, I think you ought to know-"
"Yeah, Spike?"
"He's not a vampire."
"I -What?" She dropped the crossbow and the trigger went off, sending the arrow ricocheting into the trees.
"He's not a vampire," Spike repeated calmly.
Katherine turned to look at Grey with wide eyes. Her breathing became quicker and she backed away slowly, stumbling over a raised tree root.
Omigod omigod omigod...
"Pet?"
"Katherine?" Grey said gently.
"I-I'm sorry. ...I have to...I'm sorry..." Then she turned and fled into the darkness.
You shot him!
I shot him!
Yes, we've already covered that. The question now is why?
Katherine sank down at the bar in the Bronze, utterly confused and frustrated.
I thought he was evil! He was all stalker-y in the shadows...and he looked so pale...
Maybe getting chased down by a vampire and having someone literally land on him freaked him out. Or maybe it was said someone pointing a crossbow and shooting him with it that did it.
"What'll it be?" The bartender asked cheerily.
"Got any rat poison?" Katherine replied dully. The bartender froze. "Gimme a beer."
"Do you have any-?"
"Beer," she repeated forcefully. The bartender was young and inexperienced and didn't press the ID issue.
Oh God...I could have killed him! I could have...omigod...
Princess, you gonna start singin' a new tune anytime soon?
Katherine grabbed the cold mug of frothy liquid that had appeared on the counter in front of her and finished half of it in two gulps, wincing at the horrible taste.
God...
Okay, Princess. You just gonna stay here and drink yourself into a stupor, or are you gonna go home and get some rest, maybe talk to Tall, Dark and Injured, hmmm?
"'Home'?" She murmured quietly. "Where's 'at?" She picked up the glass and swallowed the rest, and shudder as the cold, intoxicated liquid travelled through her body.
Enough with the self-pity nonsense. Haul your ass up and go home, before you get so drunk you don't know which side is up.
"Can I get another?" Katherine asked the bartender, plunking the empty glass on the counter. The bartender served her another beer, then returned several more times within the hour as Katherine stupidly drank glass after glass. She was in the middle of watching the lights on the dance floor with interest when she felt two people sit down on either side of her. "Ever feel like life's one big box of chocolates, and all you get are the yucky cherry-center ones?"
"How many did you drink?" Right side.
"Not enough. It's still hurts," she slurred, her eyes becoming unfocused. "Still hurts..."
"C'mon. Let's get you home." Left side.
"Uh uh. I don't wanna go. ...I wanna dance..."
"Pet, you can barely stand. Let's go. Niblet's gone out of her mind with worry 'bout you." Left again.
"Dawn...Dawnie Dawnie Dawnie Dawnie," Katherine murmured, swaying to the music.
"How much did she drink?" Xander demanded to the bartender.
"Uh, I..."
"How many?"
"Twelve."
Spike blinked. "Girl can hold her liquor."
"I've 'ad practice," she chirped cheerily, still swaying.
"Uh huh. Good for you, Pet."
"Yeah. ...Me and David and Venus...uh huh, all three of the three of us...Uncle Xander said we shouldn't...only David...David was eighteen...whoo, eighteen...big frickin' deal..."
"What's she talking about?" Xander asked, eyeing her with confusion. "I don't know anyone named David or Venus."
"Then he went to go patrollin' with Mom...'cause she's the Slayah...whoo, take that, evil vampire," she giggled, poking Spike with a toothpick. Spike was unamused.
"I reckon we get her home before she tries to decapitate me with a plastic knife next."
"William was ba-by-sit-ting...didn't need no frickin' baby-sitter...I was sixteen...sixteen whole years...whoo, sixteen, I can drive...not real good, though...Mom couldn't drive good either..."
Spike and Xander exchanged glances.
"William wouldn't let us drink either, would ya, Willy?" Katherine clapped Spike on the back and giggled. "But 'at didn't matter, did it? Nope, no siree. Went to a party. Yep. Punch was spiked." She looked up at Spike. "Haha," she giggled. "'Spiked punch'. ...We had lotses of cupses of punch...Uncle Xander brought us home, didn't ya? Yep. After David called you...good ol' Davey." There was a sadness in her eyes.
"What's she talking about?" Xander murmured.
"Shhh," Spike said quietly. "Let her continue."
"...Didn't tell Mommy anythin' bout anythin'. Said ya didn't want her to think I was actin' like Faith. ...Poor Faithie. Not me, the other one. Daddy killed her. Evil Daddy. ...Now David has no mommy. Only his daddy. And Uncle Xander has no one...no one but Davey. ...But then Mommy founded out anyway. William got in trouble, didn't ya? Yuh-huh. 'Cause ya knew. And ya didn't tell her. And then ya told me, "Honesty's the best policy, Kat. 'Specially where she's concerned. Buffy knows everything, no sense in lying to her."
"Buffy?" Xander murmured.
"Buffy? The Slayer?"
All three heads looked up.
"Who the fuck are you?" Katherine asked shrewdly, getting up from the stool.
"Watch your mouth. I'm your worst nightmare." A backhand sent her tumbling over the counter.
"Yeah, yeah. How many times've we heard that one before?" Spike asked, giving the Flegerick demon a solid kick in its midsection.
"Actually, never," Xander clarified. "Still. It lacks originality."
From behind the counter, Katherine blinked, dazed. The bartender stood in a corner, petrified. Her fighter's senses snapped on, and the drunken stupor of before was somewhat dulled as an adrenaline rush overcame her.
"God, I seriously need some coffee. Oh. Eh, good enough." Katherine grabbed a handful of ground coffee beans from a paper bag and starting swallowing. "Ugh, this tastes like...ugh!"
"Why - won't - you - die?!" Xander asked furiously, whacking the demon over its soft, fleshy pink head with a metal chair as its grip on Spike tightened.
"Sa- sal-" Spike choked out, trying to break the demon's powerful grip on his throat.
"Salisbury? Saltines? Salami?" Xander tried, still hitting the demon with everything he had.
"Hello, salty goodness," Katherine quipped, dumping a bag of salt over the creature's head. It began to move painfully as it sizzled and smoked into nothingness. "Huh. 'Worst nightmare', my ass."
"Salt," Spike spat out once he was free, glaring at Xander. "It was a Flegerick demon."
"Well how was I supposed to know that? Actually, how'd you know that?" Xander asked Katherine.
"One of 'em crashed the science lab at school a few years ago. Lucky it was only me and my friend David in there." Katherine spoke more clearly and seemed more alert, though she didn't appear to remember what she had accidentally told Spike and Xander. They seemed to realize that, too. "But, we took care of it using good old sodium chloride."
"Sodium chl-?"
"Salt."
"Oh."
"Which I was trying to tell you," Spike reminded him. "And salisbury?"
"Hey, I was feeling up for some steak. Well, not now, 'cause..." He kicked at the shriveled demon corpse with his shoe. "Yeah."
"Can we go home?" Katherine asked in a small voice. "I just wanna sleep, for like a week. And I feel all icky. Haven't felt this bad since I was sixteen and-" She looked up at Spike and Xander.
"Yeah?" The prompted.
"I broke into my dad's liquor cabinet and drank an entire bottle of vodka," she lied, leaning on Spike as they walked towards the door.
Spike and Xander exchanged glances. Xander was torn between talking to Katherine about what she had said and forgetting that she had ever said what she'd said. Spike wanted answers. He wondered if they had a couple dozen bottles of beer in the fridge. He'd need twelve himself after Katherine explained her whole story.
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