The summer before there had been a revolution and the streets had run red with blood. The vampires had feasted, glutting themselves on scholars and peasants and soldiers alike. But, as all things, the battles waned and the revolution failed, and Paris returned to normal. It was easy enough for them to rise to the surface, shifting from war to society. They took a townhouse. He bought his women pretty gowns and decadent underpinnings, and they enjoyed themselves for different reasons than those brought about by chaos.
Paris was bedecked for the holidays and, as the days grew shorter and the winds colder, the city began to lose its dark and dreary appeal. Too much joy, despite the losses from that bloody summer. It set Angelus' nerves on edge and made Darla even more of a bitch.
Drusilla loved it, though, delighting in the frivolity, the shopping, the carolers, the confectioners and even the religious aspects. As they strolled through a busy shopping area, she danced ahead of the other two, laughing in pure happiness. The window of a dollmaker caught her eye and she hurried over to it, pressing her nose and gloved hands against the glass. Several dolls were displayed but her eyes focused on the one in the center--the queen of the dolls. Delicate blonde hair was wrapped in a coronet upon a perfectly painted porcelain head. The eyes were blue, the bow-shaped lips a lovely red, and she wore a gown of red brocade and velvet.
"Darla, come," she beckoned. "She looks like you."
Mildly intrigued Darla joined her grandchilde at the window to look at the doll. "It does a little. The dress is a tad too scarlet for my taste."
"Oh come now, Darla, you know you're the original scarlet woman," Angelus teased, slipping deeper into his accent as he wrapped his arms around his sire from behind and gave her a squeeze.
"Eve in our own little garden of evil," she admitted, then glanced at the look of near-rapture on Drusilla's face. "And I supposed you wish us to purchase that for you."
"I've been a very good girl this year, haven't I, daddy?" was Drusilla's earnest reply as she clasped her hands together in an attitude of prayer. "I've done every wicked thing you wished of me."
He gave her an indulgent smile. "That is true, and you're especially good on your knees."
"And it's nearly Christmas. May I have her as my present, please?"
"If we get her for you, you cannot unwrap her until Christmas, Drusilla. Can you wait that long?"
"Oh yes, I promise." Drusilla bounced on her toes, and Angelus' eyes dropped from her eager face to her corseted breasts jiggling lightly beneath the navy wool bodice.
"I think I need you to ask me for your present again...this time in private." Transferring his embrace from Darla's waist to Drusilla's, he started to guide his childe back to their home, first slipping his purse to Darla.
The eldest watched them go with an eye roll, then pocketed the purse and decided just to eat the dollmaker and steal Drusilla's present.
They were vampires, after all.
End