Spike was uncomfortable without his signature leather duster, but Lilah had said he needed to dress conservatively.She even wanted him to dye his hair brown.The Wolfram and Hart attorneys didn�t want the audience at the courthouse to be loaded with obvious societal misfits, let alone vampires and demons.It would give the wrong impression to the jury, she had said.Make them think that Darla was part of some evil underground that preys on the innocent.Which she was and she did.
�Bleedin hell.� Spike adjusted the collar on his white sports shirt that he was wearing under a gray suit coat.�Kat, luv, I look like a bloody used car salesman.Or a librarian.Whoever it was who said, �Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive� hit the knackered nail square on the head.This is soddin ridiculous.�Spike had not dyed his hair.That definitely would have been taking this charade way too far.�When do we need to be at the courthouse?�
Kat stared up at the ceiling. She didn�t want to see Darla right now unable to stomach the fact the vampire felt no remorse for her actions. �That is exactly what I am afraid of,� she sat up throwing her legs over the edge of the bed. �The law firm will do some magic trick and the jury will let her off. She will never pay for her crimes,� she grasped the edges of the mattress. �Can we just wait for the trial?� she turned around and looked at him. There was something nagging at her.
She pushed herself up heading into the bathroom. All these visions had made her head throb. She need to get a couple of advil. She headed into the room opening the medicine cabinet. As she removed the bottle she closed the door. There was a face that appeared in the mirror. It was a demon looking creature with a stony looking body. Startled she dropped the container. It bounced in the sink. She threw a hand up over her mouth to keep from making a sound. �Darla has to be punished for her crimes. If the legal system won�t punish the vampire you must put an end to her existence,� he informed her. Kat attempted to ignore the image reaching in the sink grasping the bottle. �It is your place to make things right,� he tried to get her attention. Next time he appeared he would be more forceful but for now she was able to pay him no never mind. She knew who he was one of the links to the powers. She took her pills and left the room. �I will not be ignored,� he called as she started to leave the room. �Do a pretty good job so far,� she turned off the bathroom light. He grumbled something about her being corrupted living with such creatures.
Spike snuggled up close to his wife.A half moon was illuminating a rectangle of the hardwood floor with a pale blue light while a flashing neon sign from Mac�s Diner across and down the street rhythmically pulsed a soft flash of red across the wall opposite the bed.�The newspaper said she�s under house arrest at Wolfram and Hart.Only her immediate family and her attorneys are allowed to visit her.Although I suppose we could pose as her long lost great, great, great, and maybe a few more greats, illegitimate, out of wedlock grandkids.She could have squeezed out a couple of rugrats before the master turned her.She certainly wasn�t a virgin.Besides, I sort of am a grandkid.Darla turned Angel who turned Dru who then turned me.�
�Or we could just wait for the trial, which the newspaper said would start next Tuesday downtown at the Federal building.Its likely to be quite the circus.Evil Vampire eats the Red Hat Society.Should be the biggest trial since O.J. got off Scott free for killin his wife and her lover.Did you know that Wolfram and Hart represented O.J.?If they can get him off, Darla�s case should be a piece �a cake.�
The theory was probably true to an extent. Spike was capable of changing his ways without a soul for Buffy. Why couldn�t Darla do it for Lorne and her kids? The vampire was partly guilty for her own actions. The words soul struck a cord. They carried a great weight with them. It allowed them to feel remorse for their actions. She dwelled on the thought. How would such a thing change Darla? Would she be like a different person?
She didn�t entertain the notion even though it dwelled in the back of her mind. Things were out of her hands for now weren�t they? She was exactly sure what they were supposed to do now. It felt wrong to just sit back and do nothing. �I suppose we should go see her? Or attend the trial or something?� she turned to her husband for counsel on what to do next.
�I�m sorry luv.� He stroked her hair as he thought about his own nightmares � flashbacks to all the evil deeds he�d done in his time as a soulless creature of the night.There was no redemption for someone like himself, no matter how many girls in alleyways he saved from the monsters.The balance was always going to be tilted towards hell.And hell is where he�d go when he finally left this existence behind.�Darla does what she does because she doesn�t really understand that its wrong.Soulless vampires have no concept of right and wrong.They�re driven by their needs, just like any animal.They don�t kill out of malice or hate.They�re like a lion in the forest.They take what they want and need because they can, and just the like the lion, they feel no remorse.For them, it�s the natural order of things.Predator and prey. Getting Darla to understand that she shouldn�t kill humans is about as likely as convincing that lion that he shouldn�t kill gazelles.Without a soul, Darla just won�t get it.�
A soft smile ebbed across her lips in appreciation of her husband�s presence. It was soothing knowing he was there. He was wrong though. It wasn�t just a dream. She knew that. There wasn�t much she could do about it. The past was the past. The deed was done. There was no need to get all worked up so she nodded her head in agreement and cuddled down next to him. �Darla did something very bad tonight,� she stared up at the flat white ceiling as he ran his fingers through her hair. �These women came to the hotel and Darla killed them. She didn�t think twice about it. A slaughter Angel says. He acts like things are all fine and dandy though cause Kate Lockley came along and locked her up but there not. Lorne,� she couldn�t even begin to describe the emotions coming off of the Pylean. The thoughts rolling through his noggin full of confliction.�The worst part�..I picked up on everything.The pain, the terror, the things those ladies were thinking in their last moments. I couldn�t stay down stairs but I couldn�t escape it. I seen everything in my dreams.�
In a sense it didn�t really concern them. The worst was over. No one needed saving. The world wasn�t coming to an end. The evil was stopped. The legal system would handle the sentencing passing down the proper punishment. There was no way the blonde would walk free. She couldn�t help but feel haunted by this experience. She could have sworn one of the women in her dreams spirits chanted justice.
Spike had himself a smoke out in the garden.A night-blooming cactus with huge white blossoms had attracted some large moths.The world had turned a few revolutions since the fanged four were roaming the streets of London, Berlin, Prague, and other European cities and towns, taking what they wanted and causing maximum pain and suffering.It was easy back then to avoid the bloody authorities.They didn�t have all this knackered wiz-bang, CSI-crap technology.DNA sequencing, voice recognition computers, metal detectors, lie detectors, high definition security cameras, hell everyone who has a cell phone, which is about everyone on the planet, carries a little video recorder with them.Can�t scratch your ass on Main Street without someone takin your soddin picture, let alone slaughtering a couple of dozen old bitties.Blowing smoke out into the night air, Spike felt a little sorry for Darla.Just a little.She was livin in the past.Can�t live like vampires used to live.You just can�t get away with it anymore.
He ground out his smoke into a potted Jasmine then headed up to the room he shared with Kat on the second floor.He found her crashed out on the bed, clothes still on, a discarded Kindle by her side.Not wanting to wake her, he took off his boots and leather coat, and laid down next to her, closing his eyes.But his eyes flew open a moment later when she gasped to wakefulness. She didn�t notice him there at first.�Luv, had yourself a nightmare, didn�t you?Its alright.It was just a dream.�
Spike had himself a smoke out in the garden.A night-blooming cactus with huge white blossoms had attracted some large moths.The world had turned a few revolutions since the fanged four were roaming the streets of London, Berlin, Prague, and other European cities and towns, taking what they wanted and causing maximum pain and suffering.It was easy back then to avoid the bloody authorities.They didn�t have all this knackered wiz-bang, CSI-crap technology.DNA sequencing, voice recognition computers, metal detectors, lie detectors, high definition security cameras, hell everyone who has a cell phone, which is about everyone on the planet, carries a little video recorder with them.Can�t scratch your ass on Main Street without someone takin your soddin picture, let alone slaughtering a couple of dozen old bitties.Blowing smoke out into the night air, Spike felt a little sorry for Darla.Just a little.She was livin in the past.Can�t live like vampires used to live.You just can�t get away with it anymore.
He ground out his smoke into a potted Jasmine then headed up to the room he shared with Kat on the second floor.He found her crashed out on the bed, clothes still on, a discarded Kindle by her side.Not wanting to wake her, he took off his boots and leather coat, and laid down next to her, closing his eyes.But his eyes flew open a moment later when she gasped to wakefulness. She didn�t notice him there at first.�Luv, had yourself a nightmare, didn�t you?Its alright.It was just a dream.�
It had been too disturbing for Katarina to remain down stairs with the others. The things she was picking up on wereover whelming. The emotions in the room were thick, the ones that lingered of the victims in their final moments to those of the family members waiting for Darla�s inevitable death sentence. It made her head throb and her stomach turn. She tried to calm down settling in on her bed with a kindle attempting to read a book but she couldn�t concentrate. She tossed the machine on the bed and stared at the ceiling restless wishing Spike was there to talk to or distract her. Eventually sleep finally came. It only served to make matters worse. She dreamed that she was one of the girls in the lobby wearing a red hat and chattering with her friends. The scene changed time and time again as she saw each woman snuffed out by the vampire. All the blood, pain, and misery flickering through her mind like a horror movie. She woke up gasping for air and snatching the pillow beside her she hugged it like a teddy bear for comfort. Visions of the past didn�t make sense to her. It was far too late now to do a thing about them wasn�t it? She took long deep breaths trying to calm down.
