Adult-FanFiction.org : Buffy

Life is Change	By : trudyw000 Category: BtVS Crossovers > Misc - Slash - Male/Male Views: 9166 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sentinel, I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Author's Note: Thank you to Moreithel and Jujukitty for your reviews, so glad that people are still enjoying the story. I'm a little concerned about how well this chapter will go down. Oh well, only one way to find out, here it goes...
Chapter 18
Spike had been absolutely honest in his assessment of the situation when asked by Simon. Unfortunately he'd also been wrong. He hadn't intended to mislead anyone he'd simply made a mistake, he'd forgotten just how easily Dru had wound Viktor 'round her little finger.
Had they stayed around that corner just a little longer then they would have overheard something that would have stunned him to the core. If only they had stayed and listened for a few moments more they would have heard the sound of someone coming out of the back room, of heels clicking their way across the shop floor, the ringing crack of hand hitting face as the newcomer slapped Viktor across the cheek causing the vampire to recoil in surprise.
Raising his hand Viktor covered his abused cheek revelling in the heated imprint of the dainty hand that had caressed his flesh so briefly.
"Why buy!" the diminutive brunette demanded, "why buy! What were you thinking? It's your job to sell the product, not to talk willing customers out of spending their money." She raised her hand to slap him again but this time he was prepared and he grabbed her hand as she swung at him.
"Now, my dark delight," his words still had a faint German accent even after his many years away from the Fatherland. "Do you realise who that was?" he asked as he raised one hand to gently cup her porcelain cheek. The other still effortlessly holding her hand frozen in mid slap.
Recognising that something important had happened today the woman gently flexed her wrist in Viktor's vice-like grip. Feeling the movement he immediately released the abused limb and she allowed it to fall back to her side. Free once more the woman stepped in close to nestle against him softening her voice as she asked "who was he?"
Wrapping one arm firmly around her waist Viktor held the petite brunette closely to his side. "That was Spike!" he declared dramatically.
Keeping her head down she hid the speculative gleam in her eyes as she thought about what Viktor had told her, all the stories she'd heard about Spike.
Her name was Lauren Van Den Haus but she'd long ago changed it to Laura Vincent, anything to help distance herself from her roots. She'd grown up in the small apartment above this very butcher's shop. Her parents had owned the shop and they had both worked long and hard to build up the business, eager to have something to pass on to their only child. They'd hoped for sons to carry on the family name and family business. It had been Artie Van Den Haus' greatest wish to be able to amend the sign above his shop doorway, to add '& sons', even '& son' would have made the old man very happy, but it wasn't to be.
Eventually Artie had given up hope of a son to carry on after he was gone and had turned his attentions to his daughter. His darling, little Lauren, the light of his life and he tried to pass on what he called 'The Butcher's Art' to her, but Lauren had no interest in anything he had to teach her. She hated the whole thing, the blood and the gore and the smell, the smell that got into everything, the harsh, metallic tang of blood that seemed to follow her around everywhere she went. Others didn't seem to be conscious of it but Lauren could smell it, she knew it was there, and she hated it. She worked hard in school, recognising that a good education was her only chance of escape. She had longed to go away to University but her parents had declared themselves completely unable to meet that expense. They could see no reason to spend many thousands of dollars on some fancy education when it was so obvious that Lauren's place was at home, in the family business that she would one day inherit.
Lauren though refused to even consider that possibility, she changed her name and took any job she could get to pay her own way through community college, taking secretarial and administrator courses. Until one day her background in the butcher's shop finally made itself useful. She saw an advertisement for an office junior position in a local Blood Donation Centre. She was somewhat lacking in experience but she had one big advantage going for her. Blood didn't bother her, she hated it, but she wasn't squeamish about it.
So she had spent ten years working her way up through the ranks until she had reached the giddy heights of Office Manager, in charge of the administration of the Blood Donation Centres in Cascade and the surrounding towns. That was how it came about that some four years ago, when interviewing for the position of Night Porter at her old Centre in Federal Way she met a tall, handsome, strangely pale young man by the name of Dieter Loganschmidt. There had been no question from the moment he had stepped into the interview room of who would be getting the job, she found him strangely fascinating, utterly compelling and sometimes just a little bit creepy. Often when working late at the Federal Way office she would look up to find him staring at her in a manner that made her feel slightly uncomfortable. When this happened she would turn her head away and each time when she looked back he was gone so that she began to wonder if she was imagining the whole thing.
Everything changed some nine months later, Laura had come in to work in the pre-dawn hours to finish up some budgetary reports and was surprised to see Dieter loading a heavy bag into his old, beat-up car in the parking lot behind the building. Suspecting that he was stealing medical equipment or drugs she had flung open the door of her car and stormed across the lot yelling at him to freeze. Dieter had looked up in shock, not having realised that there was anyone around so early in the morning to see him. As if held in stasis, Dieter had stood beside the open trunk of his car so that as the angry woman stormed up to him she could easily see the bags of blood spilling out of the battered hold-all.
"What's going on here?" she demanded to know, grabbing one of the blood packets and brandishing it in his face before holding it closer so that she could examine it properly. That was when she saw the red marking on the packet, this blood had been rejected and should have been safely disposed of. What could he possibly want with rejected blood. Then she remembered stories she'd heard from staff at other Donation Centres. Stories of the wierdo's and other sick individuals who held all sorts of strange beliefs revolving around blood, from those who believed they could gain immortality from bathing in the blood of the innocent to those deranged lunatics who truly believed that they were vampires who needed blood to survive.
At this thought her anger ramped up several notches and her hand involuntarily tightened around the packet she was holding. The force of her grip was so strong that her finger nails pierced the plastic and thick blood welled out of the holes to pour down her forearm. Laura didn't notice that however, all her attention was riveted on the man before her, his smooth, handsome features had disappeared the instant the scent of blood had hit his flaring nostrils. In their place were heavy brow ridges, golden eyes and fearsome fangs. She knew that she should be scared but somehow she wasn't, instead that odd fascination that she had felt for this man the first time they met now returned full force. She stood motionless, watching as he stepped forward and reaching for her he gently cupped her elbow, raising her arm to his mouth he leaned in and with smooth swipes of his tongue he began to lick up the blood that flowed from the ruptured packet.
Golden eyes locked with brown Dieter continued to lap at the blood as it flowed down Laura's arm until eventually the bag was empty and her arm was clean. Only when every drop of the red fluid was gone did he lower her arm but he still kept a gentle grip on her elbow and he kept his eyes locked with hers.
Suddenly Laura realised exactly where she was and what had just happened, it was like her mind had been clouded and now a veil had been drawn back. Ripping her arm free of his grip she stepped back yelling "get your hands off me!" Dieter fell back a step in the face of her anger. "Don't ever touch me again! Get out of here and tonight I want to see you in my office as soon as you get to work." Without waiting for an acknowledgement she turned on her heel and strode back to her car to lock it up before making her way inside.
Laura's mind was racing, she managed to get the budget reports finished that morning, she had no memory of completing the work and could only hope that they made sense as she passed them to an admin assistant to post. Once the reports were out of the way Laura got very little work done that day as she thought through the implications of what she had learned that morning.. Eventually darkness fell and shortly after that Dieter arrived for work, the signal for the last of the day shift staff to leave.
Ten minutes later, just as she thought she would have to go and look for him, Dieter walked into her office and closed the door. Pushing back from her desk Laura sat and watched him for a few moments as he stood by the door, nervously shifting from foot to foot as he waited for her to say something. Finally she seemed satisfied and nodding to herself she gestured him to the chair in front of the desk where he swiftly seated himself.
"Alright, tell me what that was all about" Laura asked.
Dieter didn't need to ask what she wanted to know about and so there, lit only by the small desk lamp he told her the story of his life. He played up the innocence of his human life and the evil of the one who had stolen that from him and condemned him to the life of the undead. Conveniently forgetting his dissatisfaction with mere humanity and the way that he had begged to be turned when the opportunity arose. He told of his encounter with Spike and Drusilla, half of the scourge of Europe, he told of how Drusilla had loved him but been too afraid of her evil and abusive lover to leave with him. The story he told would have been totally unrecognisable to anyone who had participated in the events in question. However, he had retold the tale in his mind so many times that he had no problem injecting sincerity into every word, in truth he absolutely believed the story himself.
When he had finished speaking Dieter sat back and watched Laura, confident that he had won her over. However, as he looked at her he saw none of the soulful longing or dewy-eyed romanticism that he expected to see. Instead there was a hard glint in her eyes as she suddenly leaned forwards to rest her chin on her steepled hands. "A heart-warming tale I'm sure, now you can tell me the truth!"
Dieter was astounded, he'd had no difficulty compelling this woman to give him the job in the first place. A job that gave him easy access to human blood without the risk involved in hunting as well as an occasional source of extra income in selling the excess. He hadn't expected this to be any different. He redoubled his efforts to charm his boss but was stopped short by her next words.
"And you can stop trying to cloud my mind, or whatever it is you're doing. The only thing you're succeeding at is giving me a headache and that's not going to help your case."
Recognising defeat when it stared him in the face Dieter slumped in his chair. "I'm a vampire, I was turned almost 70 years ago, I took this job to get access to human blood without having to hunt." He saw no reason to tell all his secrets, unfortunately Laura could read him far better than he expected. She saw the slight tension that indicated there was still something he wasn't telling her.
She sat silently for several minutes as if waiting for him to continue, just watching him over her clasped hands.
Dieter was getting uncomfortable waiting, he was beginning to think that he would have to kill this woman, she seemed dangerously astute. He gathered himself ready to strike, he needed a moment to summon the right mindset after not having killed for several years.
"You can kill me if you like, there is nothing I could do to stop you. Of course if you do then it will call down far more attention than you could possibly stand. You'd have to move on, no more easy access to blood. It would be much less effort to simply tell me the rest. What aren't you telling me?" She waited, calm and relaxed. That more than anything decided Dieter, he would see what she had to offer, if necessary he could always kill her later, he wouldn't be any worse off than if he were to attack now.
"I sometimes pick up a little extra cash by selling a few extra packets of blood to other vampires who don't want to kill to survive." Having told all his secrets Dieter sank back into his seat to see what she would say next.
Laura watched his body language with an experience born of many years of people management and quickly decided that he wasn't hiding anything more. Relaxing back she thought about what she had been told. "How much blood have you been taking?" she asked.
"A bag like that every month or so. Just enough to keep myself fed and have a couple of extra packets to sell." He replied carefully.
"You'll be taking a little more than that in the future" Laura decided "and I'll be taking 75% of any money you make from here on in."
Dieter looked up in shock, that seemed like an awfully large cut for someone who wouldn't be doing anything more than turning a blind eye. Still, his life now was a comfortable one, his job was easy and his needs few so he agreed to the proposal.
Dieter quickly settled into the new pattern of his life, he had to spend a little more time out and about to sell the extra blood packets and keep Laura happy. It wasn't bad at first, he'd sold about 3 or 4 packets a month before being caught, now he was selling maybe 12 or 15 to keep up his income. However over time Laura demanded that he increase his sales as she found just how much she enjoyed having money to spend. He was beginning to seriously consider getting rid of his silent partner when things changed once again.
Dieter arrived at work one cold winter's evening only to be called almost immediately into Laura's office. Once there he found the petite brunette furiously pacing in front of her desk. Unsure of what had her so very angry Dieter simply waited quietly by the door. Eventually Laura seemed to notice him, she didn't slow her pacing but now she also began to rant, flinging out the words as she flung herself around the room. "They think they can trap me! They think I'll go back to that miserable little hole! Never! I'll die first!" Over and over she went over the same ground, sometimes muttering barely loud enough to be heard, sometimes shouting the words and all the while Dieter stood stoically by the door, waiting for her to calm down.
Eventually it seemed she had worn herself out and angrily Laura flung herself into her chair demanding "Well!" as if expecting Dieter to provide a solution to a problem she had not yet been able to articulate.
Dieter moved forward, he remained standing, not wanting to anger the woman behind the desk. "What has happened?" he asked, "who's trying to trap you?" He desperately needed more information, if someone had discovered their secret, even if they only knew that there was something strange happening at the Donor Centre then that would be bad. Any investigation would lead straight to him and he could not afford the scrutiny that would involve.
"My parents!" Laura exclaimed melodramatically and Dieter almost laughed in relief however he managed to control the impulse just in time. "They managed to get themselves killed in a mugging and they've left the Butcher's shop to me on condition that I leave my job and move home to run the place."
Dieter thought for several moments before speaking, "this could be a good thing," he finally ventured.
Laura looked up sharply, "a good thing? How?"
"Well, we're beginning to make a name for ourselves in the vampire community for supplying a quality product." He looked up to gauge Laura's reaction and she simply nodded for him to continue. "You'd be surprised how many in the Butcher's trade know about the undead, many of them have side businesses selling to the 'after dark' market."
At first Laura looked confused as she looked at him waiting for him to expound further, but then his words sunk in and she began to see the possibilities and then she began to smile. A slow smile of avarice that left her eyes cold, "I'll have to give one months notice, that will give you time to spread the word, the grand re-opening will be one month from tomorrow."
Dieter smiled too, it would be a lot of work to set everything up, but once it was done it would make his life much simpler. No more traipsing around touting his wares like a common street seller, no he would be able to sit tight in a respectable family business and wait for his customers to come to him. Oh yes, Dieter liked this idea, in fact it couldn't have gone any better if he'd been the one to plan the attack on that poor, elderly couple on their way home from a night of bingo with their friends at the old church hall!
As he had anticipated it took a lot to get everything ready in time, in addition to getting the word out on their new premises Dieter also had to check out the existing staff of the shop. Several of the current workforce had to go and more... open-minded ... replacements found. But eventually everything was ready. Dieter remained at the Donor Centre to keep the supply lines open while Laura handled the retail end of the business. The shop did steady business both over and under the counter and everything went very well for several months before disaster struck.
Dieter had got used to the fact that with Laura there to cover his back he didn't need to be quite so careful when taking away the reject blood on which their business was based. Unfortunately with her gone he needed to tighten up once again to make sure he wasn't caught. One evening he didn't check carefully enough and he was caught by the new administrator leaving the building with 30 packets of reject blood. There was no way that he could hide what he was doing and it was only with some quick thinking and even quicker talking that he persuaded them to cover the matter up, allowing him to leave quietly to avoid a scandal.
Laura was furious that night when he turned up at the Butcher's shop early and empty handed. She flew at him in a rage, screaming at him for his carelessness as her fingers curled into claws that she raked across his cheek leaving four long, deep furrows across the skin as blood welled to the surface.
As soon as she saw what she had done Laura froze in horror, staring at Dieter as he vamped out from the sudden pain. She had been working with him for so long, treating him like dirt, that she had almost forgotten just what he truly was. He accepted it because of the love he had felt for the woman she so strongly resembled and that he now felt for her. As brown eyes locked with golden she feared that she may have gone too far. Fortunately for her, vampires have no objection to combining a little pain with their pleasure and the deep scratches that would have scarred a human face for life were already healing. Seeing that Dieter was not going to attack she stepped forward, raising her hand to touch the blood still adorning his, now unblemished, cheek.
As she withdrew her gore tipped fingers Dieter's hand flashed out to grasp her wrist and holding it rock steady he slowly sucked each scarlet fingertip into his mouth in turn. Laura, who had always held herself aloof from him before, this time allowed his caresses only drawing back her hand once he had carefully cleaned the blood from each finger.
Dieter applied for work at any location where he might have been able to source a regular supply of human blood, but it was quickly apparent that the administrator at the Federal Way Donor Centre had passed the word around. Even when he used a different name prospective employers took one look at him and turned him away. After several weeks they knew that they weren't going to be able to renew their supply lines that way and worse, Laura's name was being tainted by association with his because of the reference she had supplied for him. One of her previous associates had sent her a quick warning that one of her discredited employees was using a reference from her. At the moment it seemed they were prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt, however it wouldn't take much more for the taint to stick.
Then Laura had an idea, walking through the town she came across a homeless man whose face was familiar to her. She couldn't immediately place him but it nagged at her for the remainder of the day until shortly before bed. As she was relaxing it suddenly came to her. She had seen the man several times trying to get paid for donating blood. The old guy seemed to sometimes live in the past, still in the days when he could pick up a little extra money by selling a pint or two of the red stuff.
The next evening she sent Dieter out scouting the homeless community for those willing to sell a pint or two and suddenly they had a new source of product. This helped the situation but it was difficult finding sufficient donors and the money they had to pay cut into their profits. Then the unthinkable happened, one of their donors died in the act of giving blood and Laura found herself clinging to Dieter in fear of the consequences of their actions. Dieter personally couldn't see the problem, one less human littering the streets and if it got him Laura, trembling in his arms, he was quite frankly all in favour of the occasional death.
Laura expressed horror at what had happened, but she rejected his half-hearted suggestion that maybe they should stop. Dieter quietly got rid of the body and several weeks later when he saw the opportunity he over-did it again and was once more rewarded with a trembling brunette in his arms.
The third time it happened it was quite obvious that Laura could not believe it was an accident but she played along and their relationship took a whole new direction. From there it was a short step to pre-meditated murder. The first time they stalked a man with the sole intention of stringing him up by his ankles and draining the blood from his body was the first time that Laura slept with Dieter.
That had brought them to their current situation, Dieter had chosen well when recruiting new staff for the Butcher's shop. They had quickly realised what was going on but as long as the bonus payments continued they did not object and when their assistance was needed in the actual act of murder they were happy to help... As long as the price was right!
Laura thought quickly when Dieter told her that one of his old associates had been in the shop with a young human paramour. Dieter was not inclined to see anything of concern in it but Laura had always been the more suspicious of the two.
"Follow them she demanded, I want to know what they want!"
Dieter was tempted to object but Spike's new toy looked interesting. He had never been able to take Drusilla away from the blonde but maybe he'd have more luck with this young man. Nodding his acquiescence he headed for the staircase in the back of the shop. He swiftly made his way to the top of the building and out onto the roof where he could easily keep track of the two on the street below without being detected.
A/N Please review
- 17
- 18
- 19
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Life is Change