15905/Let the game begin.

Let the game begin.
Date of Scene:	21 December 2023
Location:	Sunnydale, Avalon
Synopsis:	Dracula found Willow and started the gears of dissention in her mind.
Cast of Characters:	Dracula, Willow Rosenberg

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Dracula has posed:
Standing just outside the walls of the cemetary and within the shadows, Dracula stares into nothingness, focused despite seeming otherwise. His face is a neutral expression of one who is in control of things at the moment.

He waits patiently, listening for the sounds around him. Whatever he is doing, nobody that passes near feels comfortable enough to remain or even walk within 50 feet of him.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow was up in the air about this. It wasn't quite a summons, but neither was it an invite. Weren't invites polite? Didn't summons feel like you had to obey them? Yet, neither of these situations fit.

Instead, it was a singular sheet of paper that was tossed under her office door at the university, saying:

Wed. night. Come alone. 11:59 PM. (with a place scrawled in it)

No name. (She checked.) No address, or addressee. The only thing that could possibly be a hint was the paper: Thick linen. Very expensive.

Willow didn't know many people who could afford that type of paper for everyday use.

Still wondering *who* she headed out after her TA hours. She wasn't breaking any rules. She had no plans on sleeping - so Harry shouldn't be too bothered with her safety. Besides, she could always pick up some ingredients from the graveyard and hit two birds with one stone. Easy-peasy!

Figuring out the plan she felt much better, and headed towards the outskirts of the Masonic Cemetery, and waited.

Dracula has posed:
From the shadows, she sees two points of red light appear. If the lights are to be trusted the person is tall. He watches her for a time and then steps out of the shadows to reveal himself, Lord of the Vampires.

He doesn't make a move to try and scare her other than the glowing eyes. When he is fully in sight, the eye shine fades.

He waits for the time being, seeing if she sees him, recognizes him, and most importantly comes to him. The sound of his voice is difficult to forget and he tells her,"Still hiding your beauty and denying yourself the power that is yours to reach out and take." It isn't hateful, but definately to the point.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Dracula.

Figures. Although she wasn't aware he was /that/ rich.

"What do you want?" Willow began churlishly. Then relented. "I won't give you beauty," she says quietly. "I mean, Harry thinks so, but in generalI I think Buffy is more beautiful that I am. Or Wanda. Don't tell them though."

One being her roommate. And the other her former boyfriend's sister. And let's face it, girl were as attractive to Willow as boys. In some cases, moreso. Ahem.

As for her power..

"Okay, I'll bite." Afterall enough people had taken it on to prove her power.. "What do you mean, if only reached out and grabbed it? Wouldn't you be wanting me to stay as unpowerful as you could?"

Dracula has posed:
Crossing his arms, he replies,"One of us has been alive for centuries and has aptitiude with magic. Not as much as some, but enough to see power and know it when I see it."

"Whomever Harry is, you should listen to him." he says flatly and adds,"Your slayer friend is very beautiful in many ways as well. You each have your own beauty about you and I don't care to debate you on it."

He shakes his head,"As for what I want, I merely wanted to see you again and permit you to know I am back once more. The promise I offered you before remains as stated. I can show you your inner darkness. I can feed without killing and I can feed you without making you as I am. I am curious to see the flower you blossom into as you get stronger."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Despite herself, Willow nodded. As to what she nodded for? That was the question.

"I should send you back where you belong. You realize that, don't you? I'm supposed to be on the good fighting evil side. I think, no matter how you explain it, you are not good."

Still, she hadn't told him to go.

Dracula has posed:
"Where do you think I belong I wonder?" he asks,"As for whether I am good or evil, that depends who you ask. In my early life I was all but worshipped by those who I ruled. Safety is ideal."

She hasn't told him to go and so he doesn't. Instead he closes the distance between them by a step or two, looking over the cemetary and frowning,"I sense the presence of another of my kind strongly here. Not here right now, but here a great deal. It seems like...Spike."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Yeah." Willow looks over to the graveyard. "That would be Spike. He isn't quite evil anymore. I guess you could say I am counting on him if something goes wrong." But, then again, Willow didn't know Dracula was the mystery person. In fact, she realizes that using Spike as her fall back for protection was exactly the type of behaviour she was trying to get away from.

"What was your life like before.." She waggles had hand around as she turns and faces him.

Dracula has posed:
"You are counting on William the Bloody? Spike?" he muses with a look of incredulus amusement,"If you say so."

When asked about his past he replies,"I was a warrior and ruler. Defending my homeland became necessary and when it came it, I did what I needed to do to make sure they were safe and my lands weren't invaded. My beloved was killed in retribution for what I did to protect my home land."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"He's supposed to be living with this chip on his brain. But I think as he has gone on, he wouldn't want to hurt us. Well, Buffy for sure. And maybe me? He still talks the talk, but I can tell the difference though. I think if Buffy were to give him a deal, be good and I will love you, he'd be tempted. Maybe he would even stay good."

Willow thinks awhile on that.

As Dracula tells his story, she frowns. "That doesn't sound too bad? I mean, other than the retribution part. But that was done against you. What happened to you though?"

Dracula has posed:
A sigh,"He was a dark warrior. I don't care for him. Hearing that he's fallen that far I like him less." he mutters.

"Are you asking what I did to draw the retribution or are you asking me what I did after the retribution?" he asks her pointedly and takes another step, eyes moving from the cemetary and to her again.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow stands her ground. Deliberately. In fact she holds her head up a notch, as if to say, 'I'm not afraid of you'. Complete with a heel stomp if you could imagine it.

"I don't imagine that he is doing it to garner points with you. You do know that?" She shakes her head. And then..

"Which changed you the most?"

Dracula has posed:
A shrug and he admits,"He does it for his own purpose. Likely as not, he has a long end game..." he pauses and shakes his head,"...that would be Angelus. Spike..."

Soon enough they are within arm's reach of one another, that head held up giving him a good look at her slender neck. How rude.

"My wife being murdered in our home changed me. It resulted in me turning my back on the church, driking the blood of my enemies, and making myself into the Lord of Vampires. Others are given the gift, I took it."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Now, there's the rub.

On the one hand he had every right to be angry. To the point of turning his back on the Church. Mind you, Willow was not a very faithful follower of the Jewish or Christian faiths. And to tell the truth she was only a pagan because of the fact that they didn't force you to pick one god or goddess.

On the other hand..

"You must have been so angry. And full of grief. And you have never turned back?"

Dracula has posed:
Meeting her gaze, eyes boldly holding there he tells her,"Grief and hurt aside, when you drink the blood of a human in a house of God he doesn't forget." he tells her,"I denied his power over me, taking my own sacrament and taking into me his power."

A hint of a smile touches his features and he tells her,"You really do look for the good in others don't you? I never turned back to the light because the light rejected me after what I did. Thus the cross and holy symbols cause me pain."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow blushes. A deep pink.

"I have to." She proclaims quietly. "I have to believe that there is good in the world! I have to! Otherwise, what am I doing here?"

"But I think how you must have felt. When then took your beloved to pay for your sins..?" She shakes her head. "That must have been.. You must have been all alone. You against the world. And Yahweh had abandoned you. No wonder.. I don't believe in the Christian god. Well, not as the only god. I think if I thought that the god I did worship turned his back on my faith and let my Beloved pay for something I had done?"

Again she looks to Dracula.

"I probably would have done the same."

Dracula has posed:
"Your blood is Hebrew, but you reject the ideology of a single God? How interesting." he tells her with a smile that might be a little unsettling.

A shrugs and he tells her,"As for the rest. Life became what it became. Eternal thirst and never ending nights." He lets his head tilt to the side a little and he tells her,"I think you might." he agrees to what she says about doing the same. He lets one hand raise and he gently touches her cheek,"You are more powerful than before. I can feel it in the air around you and the power against my fingers."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"I discovered that if I believed in one god, I either had to believe in all gods or none of them. And I like the thought of them more than none of them. Can't you look up at the stars and just imagine them out there. I guess with you taking control of the sacraments, you could be a lesser god? Everybody moves along the path to godhood."

When Dracula reached out and touched cheek, her eyes half lidded even as she drew away.

"So you say." Even though she knows it is true.

Dracula has posed:
Not usually one to deal with coy or shy, Dracula is calm and tells her,"I get that. Easier to believe than to not." he agrees.

"There have been others that called me god. In a way you are not wrong. That being said, don't question the centuries old demigod that is telling you that you have power."

His mind, his presence pushes against hers. It isn't a forceful touch, but rather a way to gently subvert her conciousness to make his will dominant to her own.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
It isn't that she's shy, or coy. But she is confused.

When he push that little bit, she pushed back. Forcefully.

For one moment her eyes went black. "Don't." And as quickly as they went black, they returned to clear green. The power behind her was itching to get out. The shields she had practiced were just the beginning.

Dracula has posed:
He lowers his head to nose to nose, looking in those black eyes,"Your slayer friend folded like the proverbial house of cards when I did the same to her. She gave me her neck, let me drink from her, and then hid that from all of you."

Should he back off? Possibly. Does he? Of course not. His eyes glow in the darkness again and he tells her,"Power. You have it. More than her and more than you know. I could show you, but that's for you to decide."

Once he has made his point, he lingers close for a few seconds longer and then stands back up, once more looking down on her,"When you want to understand your power, ask."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"I'm not Buffy. Never make that comparison to me again."

Her eyes are green, flecked with black.

Then..

"Maybe." The roots of her hair join with her eyes in being mottled. "But don't. Ever. Treat me as inferior."

Suddenly, her voice was quiet. Her eyes were clear green. "I've got to go." And backs away quickly. When she was far enough away, she ran. Only the very odd strand of hair, in her witches forelock, was black as a memory.

Dracula has posed:
Satisfied with the first step of the plan, Dracula shifts into bats and flies into the air. Part of him curious where she might go, he opts to move on to other business. Powerful, unsure, and insecure. Magical dynamite with a slow fuse. In his mind he chuckles darkly and leaves her to her own fate for the night.