I'm exhausted. Battered and bruised from head to bloody toe. I want to sleep but I can't. Waiting for the other sodding shoe. Or boot. Or bloody high-heeled pump. The one that will drop right on my broken ribs when she bursts throught the door. Knew I'd pay for the Bot.
Guess she is worth payin' for. Gave me a bit of fun. I like her, even though she's nothing like Buffy. Not even close. She's a sweet one, though, as they go. Can't think of her as a machine. Never made much sense to me, anyway. Feels right bloody real to me.
Couldn't do a thing like that back in my day. What I would've done for a Dru bot on one of those nights she picked up some git that caught her fancy or spent the night with Angelus. Had to make do with a raven-haired whore. Call her my black beauty and tell her how much I love her, ask her why she hurt me so. She still wasn't Dru. None of them were. Funny thing is, I didn't eat most of them. If they were close enough, if they gave me what I wanted, let me take care of them like I took care of Dru...I let 'em go on their merry way with an extra shilling for their trouble. Bloody idiot, I was. Still am.
Still making do with a replacement. A shoddy replacement, nice bird though she is. I'll never have the real thing. No matter what I do. I'm just a nuisance to her. She keeps me around 'cause I stake a few vamps now and again. Maybe 'cause the Nibblet's fond of me. She doesn't want anything to do with me and she bloody well doesn't love me. That's why I made the Bot. Try and get it all out of me, pounding into a machine that looks exactly like her and smells exactly like her but isn't bloody her. Not like it matters. Don't know why they can't just let me have her, the Bot. She wouldn't do any harm. I could keep her locked up in my crypt, I could. Still she wouldn't be enough. Still I'd want her.
Door bursts open. Here she comes, I think. Maybe she'll bloody kill me this time. But right away I know it isn't her. It's the Bot. My pretty lil toy Buffy. I manage to sit up and talk to her. She deserves that, at least, before they shut her down.
"Why did you let that Glory hurt you?"
"She wanted to know who the key was."
"Oh, well, I can tell her--"
"No! You can't...ever. Glory never finds out."
"Why?" She does ask the hard questions, doesn't she?
"'Cause Buffy--the other, not-so-pleasant Buffy--anything happened to Dawn it'd destroy her. I couldn't live, her bein' in that much pain. Let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did."
She leans forward to kiss me. Poor, stupid bird. I would have to keep her locked up. More I look at her the more I want to keep her. Pretty little thing, she is. Not like Buffy, but almost close enough. Like those whores I didn't eat.
The instant her lips touch mine I know something isn't right. I pull away and look at her again. It's not the Bot. It's Buffy. It's the real bloody thing, and she just kissed me. I wonder if she knows how much hope she's just given me. I wonder if it was my reward.
"And my robot?" I ask, just to see. Don't think I want her now. Don't think she could ever compare.
"The robot is gone. The robot was gross and obscene." Ah...there's my girl. There's that cold, scolding tone. I've been a bad boy, haven't I, Mummy?
I'm humbled. Hang my head. Can't argue after what she's just given me. "It wasn't supposed to..."
"Don't. That thing...it wasn't even real."
Turns on her bloody heel and that's it, then.
"What you did, for me and Dawn, that was real." She looks back at me. "I won't forget it."
I stare at the door a long time after she leaves. I won't forget either, pet. Won't forget your gift. You've done it now, you have. You're never going to be bloody rid of me.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
