Work Text:
Spike leaned back, eyes drifting up to the night sky as he took a slow drag from his cigarette. "The sky’s beautiful here," he said, his voice low, almost nostalgic. "But let me tell you a story: There’s a place where the stars were even more breathtaking. Ever wonder where that is?"
He smiled, his gaze distant as he seemed lost in thought for a moment. "It was in Venice—on the Rialto Bridge, 1928."
He exhaled a plume of smoke, his voice drifting into the past. "Dru and I decided to take a little detour there. The carnival was in full swing, and we’d heard all the stories, but neither of us had ever been. She was practically vibrating with excitement, couldn’t wait to see it all." He grinned, the memory lighting up his face. "Of course, I made sure we stayed at one of the best hotels, right next to the Rialto Bridge."
He paused, the grin faltering for just a second. "Well… checked in, in the way I do. You know, by dealing with a certain someone who thought they could stop us. Hey, I'm a vampire, you know that! This is the way we do things. Anyway, that's not what I wanted to tell you. So we went to this fancy hotel. Our room had a balcony overlooking the canal and the Rialto Bridge. Dru was thrilled! We knew that the next day this big ball was going to take place at St. Mark's Square, so we went to get dressed up for it. We found this tiny store, which was crammed with costumes to burst! All stores in Italy are tiny, of course, but this one was especially small! You know, in Venice, at Carnival, people wear baroque costumes."
"Dru had chosen this beautiful, blood-red dress with black lace, with a hoop skirt, of such a size that she could have easily hidden three men under it! Unbelievable how that could have fit in this store!" He laughed. "And of course we needed masks! She had an elegant, matching one, with black lace held on a stick, mine was with gold and black ornaments and to tie behind the head. Dru said it went well with my hair. I dyed it black then, you know? I had a baroque costume too. Guess I looked a little like a baroque prince with a golden Victorian tailcoat and ruffled shirt."
Spike chuckled.
"So we had our costumes and the next day we went to this ball. Before that we crossed the Rialto Bridge and stopped to admire the view and that was the place with the most beautiful starry sky! From this bridge you have the best view of the Canale Grande with these many small decorated gondola boats. Accordion music, from a street musician, came from somewhere and mixed with the soft sound of the soft splashing of the waves against the bridge. The houses on the sides of the canal were all decorated with colorful lanterns that shone beautifully above them; the starry sky!" He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, as if trying to capture the vastness of the sky itself. Then, with a subtle nod, he pointed up to the expanse they were gazing at. "Dru looked simply breathtaking in this setting!" He paused briefly and bit his lower lip.
"I pressed her against the bridge railing, the cold stone beneath us contrasting sharply with the heat between us. My lips found hers, and I kissed her passionately—so deeply that everything else seemed to fade away. The world around us blurred, the distant murmur of the carnival and the soft ripple of the canal beneath us becoming distant sounds. I couldn’t tell you how long we stood there, lost in each other. Surely long enough for the passers-by to start staring, though I couldn’t have cared less. We were caught up in our own world, and nothing else mattered."
He smiled at the memory, the glint of mischief in his eyes. "Normally, I would’ve taken her right there, without a second thought. What did we care if anyone saw us? The night was ours, and the city, with all its chaos and wonder, seemed to only fuel our hunger for each other. But that damn skirt of hers... it was this big, heavy thing, all layers and fabric, impossible to move in."
Spike shook his head with a small chuckle. "It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about it—believe me. The thought crossed my mind. But as much as I wanted her, I wasn’t about to tear that dress to pieces, not when we still had a ball to attend." His eyes softened as he remembered the way her smile had lit up the night. "She’d been looking forward to it for weeks."
He let out a low sigh, almost fondly, before continuing. "But that didn’t mean we didn’t make the most of it. The night was electric, and so were we—our bodies pressed so close it was like we were one, hearts beating in time with the pulse of the city. The thrill of it all... I can still feel it, the way she tangled her fingers in my hair, pulling me closer, the taste of her lips still burned into me."
"We finally controlled ourselves again and went on to the Doge's Palace. There the ball took place. Of course, only the high society went in and out of there, but... well... we got ourselves in. If it's any consolation, we didn't kill anyone there. No, that would have been too conspicuous among so many people! And a little intimidation and bribery sometimes does the trick as well."
"The ball was held in the hall of the great council. The name may sound unspectacular, but you must have seen that! The hall is huge and decorated all over with gold and frescoes on the walls and ceilings, more magnificent than in Versailles! The guests were similarly splendidly dressed. Drusilla's dress suddenly appeared almost plain! At the end of the hall there was a 50-piece orchestra. I danced a waltz with her, all through the hall, and we drank champagne..." His smile deepened, almost wistful. "If only we'd stayed there.“
Spike's expression shifted, and he pulled a face, as though the memory had soured. "But of course, that’s when we ran into him—the vampire." His tone darkened, the shadow of that encounter still lingering in his words. Lorenzo Vianello—tall, dark, and impossibly handsome, with long black hair that he wore in a braid. He stood there like some Venetian prince, his every word dripping with charm. He flattered Dru endlessly, speaking of his vast wealth and noble name, all with that self-assured smile that made her hang on every word. Finally, he told us about a parallel event he was organizing in another hall. Here it was quite nice, but nothing for the "better society", as he called it. At his party, our kind would be among themselves, and not have to pretend to be human. There was blood and later in the evening there would be a surprise! He invited us to come, so we did. The hall was in the other wing of the palace, smaller and, as promised, full of vampires. Some were like us, tourists he had invited personally, but most seemed to be locals. Instead of champagne, blood was served. We chatted eagerly with the other guests. One family was conspicuous, a young couple with a daughter about 10 years old."
Spike paused, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Don't worry," he said, his tone smooth as if sensing the unease in the air. "They weren’t the dinner. No, they were vampires—including the child! I didn’t even know that was possible." His grin widened, as if savoring the absurdity of it. "It doesn’t quite work, you see. Children are too weak, their bodies can’t handle the transformation. Not normally, anyway. But there they were, proving all the rules wrong."
„Somehow this little girl had managed to survive the transformation. Her name was Victoria. We talked to them for a while. Dru was thrilled with her. Imagine that, the fact that vampires can never have children suddenly seemed suspended! Dru and I had never thought about it, since it always seemed impossible, but here she stood, the little vampire girl, and taught the whole room a better lesson! Her parents also seemed to have been recently changed, by none other than our host himself. In fact, he had only recently sired some of the vampires in this room, as the couple now informed us. This seemed a bit off to me. Why would someone create so many vampires if he didn't need them for a greater purpose? And what was that purpose? I didn't want to stay to find out, I was just about to suggest to Dru that maybe we should bugger off, but then Lorenzo drew attention to himself with a speech.“
„He tinkled, in the middle of the hall, with a spoon against his champagne glass and thanked all his guests for coming. After all, he had promised us all a surprise, and now he didn't want to keep us in suspense any longer. He asked a young lady to join him. She was not a vampire. He introduced her as a witch, who will present us with a very special firework display. He let her take over the stage with polite applause and went aside. She bowed and started to cast a spell, moving her hands in rhythmic circles. No one paid attention to Lorenzo anymore, but since I had a bad feeling before, I did watch him and I saw him leaving the bloody hall!“ Spike said, a note of alarm creeping into his voice.
„That was reason enough for me to become suspicious. I grabbed Dru by the hand and pulled her towards the exit, but there hadn't been a chance to tell her about my suspicion, so she refused to leave, she wanted to see the show! That slowed us down a bit. In the meantime, the witch had conjured up a big ball of light, around which spectacular wafts of mist in bright colors formed. The audience was all impressed and thought it was a great show!"
"And guess wha? That wasn't a show! It was the summoning of a bloody demon from the underworld, is what it was! A sodding big demon! The only way to summon something this big is to use a lot of energy. But the energy always has to come from somewhere first. That's why Lorenzo needed all those vampires! Vampires are like walking, talking, magic reservoir. The witch sucked the energy from those closest to her first with a big round of lightning and a violent blow. These unfortunate creatures immediately disintegrated into dust.“
„Fortunately, we were almost at the exit. The demon had already begun to take shape. You could see huge spider legs sticking out of the portal! One of the vampires who had been standing at the other end of the hall had meanwhile thrown a heavy table at the witch and the ritual was interrupted. She was lying on the floor, but she was still able to draw energy from all the others. We were weakened and the being in our midst became stronger and stronger. I pulled Dru further towards the door, but she held me back. I followed her gaze and realized why. The little girl, Victoria, sat intimidated under a table. Her parents were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they were among the first victims.“
„Dru didn't want to leave her behind, I could see that in her look, so I cursed this God damned day and went back further into the hall. The spider demon had almost completely appeared by now. It was as big as two men and had the upper body of a woman. The spider began to catch and eat individual vampires with its web! I could just duck under one of its web shots. Most of the other vampires were either dead or had fled. I knew we wouldn't get out of here alive until the witch was brought down. But first I tried to reach the girl. She was still crouching under the table and I slid under it as well.“
„I grabbed her and ran for it. I pushed her into Drusilla's arms, who was already waiting for her at the door, but then a spider web caught me from behind! It pulled me up in the air and I landed on the spider's upper body. If another vampire hadn't done an attack just then, I would have been spider food, but luckily someone, of the remaining vampires, had thrown a wooden beam at it at that very moment and I fell to the ground.“
„I was surprised to find that I landed not far from the witch, who was still crouching on the ground, casting her spells. Before she could have seen me coming, I rushed towards her and strangled her. Of course she tried to fight back with magic, but the other vampires had noticed what I was up to and came to my aid. Together with two others I was able to overpower her. The moment I tore off her head, the spider monster disappeared back into the portal. It's over!"
"Drusilla, the girl, and I rushed outside. I didn’t bother looking around to see where the other vampires had gone, and frankly, I didn’t care. Victoria was too weak to walk—whatever spell had been cast on her was taking its toll. So, I carried her. I took her back to our hotel and laid her on the bed. Dru immediately took her in her arms, holding her tight, like she was trying to keep her there forever. I could tell she was hoping Victoria could stay with us now that her parents were obviously gone. But the child... she wasn’t doing well. She seemed to be fading by the second."
Spike paused, his face hardening as he remembered. "I was about to go out and get her some fresh blood, something to help her, but I never got the chance. The girl lost consciousness, and..." He hesitated, his voice growing soft. "...about half a minute later, she crumbled to dust in Drusilla’s arms."
Spike blinked up at the sky, his eyes distant, before falling silent. After a long pause, he finally spoke again, his voice low and final. "And that’s how the story ends."