Spoilers: None, unless you don't know who the four vampires mentioned above are, in which case you're so hopelessly out of date that spoilers won't matter to you... ~_^

Author's Note: OK, for some reason I've developed this fascination with Darla/Spike interractions. I have no idea why. Probably because the show never went into it, and they seem like they'd just perfectly grate on each other's nerves, don't they? So this little piece is just another of my random explorations. It isn't a romance either, just in case you're wondering...

Rating: This is R for violence, nudity, and non-explicit sexual situations. You have been warned.

1896...

The door flung open long enough for a cloaked figure to rush inside before it was slammed shut again. Nevertheless, the pounding rain had had time to form a small puddle on the threshold – a puddle that was increasing in size rapidly as water dripped from the drenched garments of the cottage's new inhabit.

Throwing back her hood and shaking the excess rain from her hair, Darla breathed a deep sigh of relief. She felt damp and miserable; this had not been the best night to go hunting.

She stripped out of all her clothes and left them in a wet pile by the door. Unfortunately, her skin was drenched, too, but at least she was now free of the cloying fabric.

She kicked her clothes to the side and went over to re-stoke the fire.

"Anybody back yet?" she called out, but was greeted with silence.

"Well, at least I know they're more miserable than me," she grumbled to herself, flinging open the linen closet the previous owners had so graciously stocked and pulling out a towel.

She quickly rubbed herself dry and wrapped the towel around her head to dry her hair. She shuddered slightly at that strange, clammy feel her skin always got when it was wet. It made her feel dead, and she really hated it.

Sighing, she made her way to the master bedroom and began the unnecessarily difficult task of finding something to wear.

The difficulty stemmed entirely from Drusilla's latest rampage. The insane vampiress had begun flinging things wildly across the room, screeching about how the mice in their luggage had finally turned green. It had taken both Angelus and Spike to calm her down, and she'd first led them on a merry chase all through the summer home they'd 'acquired'.

It was one of those rare occasions that Darla actually appreciated having Spike around. After all, if it hadn't been for him, she would have been the one chasing Drusilla around and dodging falling furniture and small projectiles flying through the air.

Of course, when they'd finally caught Drusilla, she had played the demure, innocent little girl. Darla still couldn't believe the two male vamps were such dupes for that act. She suspected that Drusilla had staged the entire rant just to get some male attention. And it had certainly worked. After a while, even Darla had decided to join in on the fun.

Not that she minded the orgy, but the destruction of most of her belongings that preceeded it was most annoying.

Of course, no one had bothered to clean up after Dru's little escapade, so now Darla had to sort through heaps of scattered clothing. She finally found one of her dresses and slipped it over her head. Oddly enough, clothing still gave her the feeling of warmth, even though she no longer could feel the cold.

Feeling somewhat better, Darla returned to the living room and sat in front of the fire, letting it warm her cool flesh. She picked up a book from the end table, a collection of Yeats' work – obviously Angelus' – and began to read.

Unfortunately, the quiet was almost immediately interrupted by wild whoops of laughter.

Darla rolled her eyes and watched at the two Childer in their little family group burst inside, still giggling uncontrollably.

"Boom, boom!" Drusilla cried out at the next sound of thunder.

"Boom, boom," Spike agreed with a wide grin on his face. He brushed the rain-soaked hair off his forehead with one hand.

"He looks just like a drowned puppy, my Spike does," Drusilla cooed in delight.

Spike laughed and shook his head, spraying her with water.

"Eek!" Drusilla shrieked happily. "You'll get Mommy all wet!"

"Mommy's already wet," Spike gave her a seductive leer and caught her around the waist, holding her to him. "Mommy got wet when she shoved me into that puddle."

"Sploosh!" Drusilla giggled, flinging her hands out wide in imitation of the water's motion.

"That was very naughty of Mommy," Spike smiled into her throat, nipping and licking at the skin there.

"Oh god!" Darla groaned in disgust. "I should have known that only you two would actually like this weather..."

"Mommy's Mommy is home!" Drusilla announced happily.

"Yeah, pet," Spike remained completely focused on Dru's neck, "she sure is."

Darla rolled her eyes. "Just make sure you don't drag those wet clothes all over the house," she ordered them before trying desperately to return to her book.

"Hmmm..." Spike murmured into Drusilla's ear. "Guess we'll jus' have to take our clothes off then, eh, luv?"

"Now who's being naughty?" Drusilla chided him as he began to strip her dress from her shoulders.

"'m your naughty little boy," Spike agreed, kissing her shoulder.

Darla let out an audible sigh of annoyance, and Spike turned to look at her for the first time, his eyes narrowed.

Darla's steely gaze met his. "I'm trying to read. Take it somewhere else," she commanded.

Spike's scowl increased for a second and his nostrils flared, before he broke eye contact with her and shrugged. "Right then," he turned to Dru. "Let's head for the bedroom then, Dru."

She purred enticingly and slipped her dress from her shoulders, letting it pool at the feet.

Spike purred in response, and soon the two of them had ripped all of his clothes off as well. Drusilla gave a little yelp of surprise when he lifted her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

"Finally," Darla muttered after they had gone.

Centuries of life as a vampire had taught how to completely block out any sounds of fornication that might be occurring around her, and Spike and Drusilla's cries and screams didn't even register to her as she kept reading.

However, there was one thing that no vampire could ignore. Darla's head jerked up when she felt the slight tingling in her bones that indicated that the sun had just risen. The storm clouds kept its deadly rays at bay, of course.

But still, it was dawn and Angelus hadn't returned.

Darla's brow furrowed. She waited for several minutes, staring at the closed door and absentmindedly listening to the moans and shouts from the other room.

Finally, she sighed, got up, and banged hard on the bedroom door. The squeals of ecstasy stopped almost immediately, and she walked in.

"Angelus hasn't come home yet," she said without preamble. "I'm going out to look for him."

Spike rolled his eyes in perfect time with rolling his body off of Drusilla. "He's a big boy," he insisted. "Can take care of 'imself."

"He could be in trouble," Darla insisted. "We're going to check it out."

"We?" Spike groaned.

"Find some clothes, if you can," Darla gestured to the mess and cast an irritated glare in Drusilla's direction, "and meet me in front. You," she indicated Drusilla, "stay here in case he comes back in the meantime." She stormed back out the door.

"Spike?" Drusilla whimpered softly when he got up.

"Don't worry, ducks," he told her softly, stroking her hair. "'ll be back soon."

"What about Daddy?" she asked with wide eyes.

Spike sighed in annoyance and frustration. "He'll be back soon, too," he insisted, giving her a passionate kiss.

"This century!" Darla shouted from the living room.

"Coming!" Spike insisted, finding a pair of trousers and a shirt and quickly pulling them on.

"You finally ready?" Darla hissed in annoyance when he came out to meet her, putting his boots on as he came.

He scowled slightly but didn't dare challenge her. "Ready," he agreed sullenly.

"Then let's go," Darla opened the door, let out an exasperated sigh when the thunder boomed out again, and stepped out into the freezing rain, Spike right behind her.

"He tell you where he was goin'?" Spike asked.

"The village," Darla headed off in the appropriate direction.

He followed her, and even though they tried to stay under trees and near walls, they were both soaked to the bone within minutes.

Darla scaled a stone wall, and Spike followed her over, entering another one of those infinite fields that filled the English countryside.

They both yelped at the next crash of thunder and then ran out into the clearing when lightning struck a nearby tree, setting it ablaze.

"Does lightning hurt vampires?" Spike shouted over the noise of the storm.

"Yeah, if it hits you," Darla answered. "We're not as conductive as humans, though."

"Shouldn't we be more worried then?" he gestured to the empty space all around them.

"You should," Darla shrugged.

"What?" he demanded.

"Lightning always strikes the tallest object," she looked up at him. "As long as you're around, I'm fine..."

She grinned evilly internally when he immediately hunkered down to her height. For some reason he had always just set her on edge, so she enjoyed tormenting him as much as was physically possible. It probably had something to do with his complete lack of interest in her. Sure, he'd take a poke at her every now and again, but she was used to men hanging all over her.

"This is pointless," he finally complained under his breath. "We're never going to find 'im..."

"He was headed for the abbey," Darla sighed. "This is the route he would take back. We're bound to run into him sooner or later."

"Lucky us," Spike was still grumbling. "Still don't see why I had to come..."

"Because if he's hurt, I'll need your help to get him back home," Darla said with the last of her patience. "Plus," she added with a decidedly evil grin, "if I'm going to be stuck out in this weather, someone else has to be suffering at least as much as I am."

"Might've known..."

"Oh, quit complaining!" Darla exclaimed in exasperation. "You're the brute labor of this group, and you know it! It's not like you're smart enough for anything else..."

"And you would know?" Spike retorted sarcastically.

"Oh, please!" Darla yelled right back at him. "I've seen Angelus try to give you lessons. You can't even remember the Orders."

"Nonn, Ptemekh, Xie, Kali, Dareios, Jela, Aurelius, Anaba, Ngaire, Honovi, Tlelic, Lev, Tan," he rattled of in perfect succession.

Darla spun around to look at him in surprise. She'd seen Angelus try to get him to repeat that list hundreds of times, and he'd never gotten it before, usually breaking off with something like 'and some other wankers' halfway through.

Spike gave her a sardonic laugh. "You want me to recite our line?" he said sarcastically, obviously pleased by her stunned reaction. "My favorite part is when your Daddy up an' ditches you because you botched the war with the Order of Jela..."

"How—?" Darla began.

"Did I know that?" he finished for her. "Jus' because I don't give a damn, doesn't mean 'm stupid or ignorant." The glare he gave her was hard and intense, his eyes the same wild blue as the storm overhead. Then, he shoved past her and trudged through the field.

Darla abruptly realized that she was alone on the empty plain with lightning still cracking above and ran to catch up to him.

"Smell blood," Spike scowled at her, "unless you were huntin' here, I'd say 's Angelus."

"You're probably right," Darla agreed, her brow furrowed. However, she was interrupted from her thoughts by a loud shout.

"Darla! Spike! Over here!"

The two vampires rushed over to where their companion was lugging one body over to where another already lay.

"Nuns," Angelus said in obvious delight. "Four of them. I've been trying to get them all back home, but one of them got my hand." He held out his right hand, and they both winced in sympathy at the cross-shaped burn mark there.

"They're still alive," Spike noted, bending over to pick one of the unconscious nuns up. "Dinner for tomorrow night?" he guessed.

"It'll keep us out of this weather," Angelus agreed, shivering slightly out of force of ancient habit.

"Right. Well, 've got these two," Spike hefted the one Angelus was dragging over his other shoulder.

"We'll go grab the other two," Angelus nodded. "See you back home."

Spike nodded and turned back.

"You shouldn't have stayed out past sunrise," Darla scolded Angelus once Spike had left.

Angelus looked up. "Yeah, because I'm in so much danger from the sun..." he retorted.

Darla sulked the entire way back to where the other two nuns lay. They each picked one up and headed back home.

"Everything else all right?" Angelus asked finally, noticing her concern.

"Have you been keeping an eye on Spike?" she suddenly asked, much to Angelus' surprise.

"Why? He sneaking out and getting himself into more fights?" he guessed.

Darla's brow furrowed. "I just got the strangest feeling from him tonight," she shook her head slightly. "Like he's smarter and tougher than we think..."

Angelus laughed. "He's not even twenty," he reassured her, "and the way he's going, he'll never see thirty."

"I guess..." Darla said thoughtfully as they entered the house.

"Oh, boy!" Drusilla cried when they came in. "More goodies!"

"Give Mum and Dad a hand, pet," Spike said from his place on the floor where he was tying up the two nuns he'd brought in.

"They're going to be such grand fun to kill!" Drusilla spun around happily before taking the unconscious woman from Darla.

"Just so long as I don't have to go out into that again," Darla indicated the storm, stripping off yet another drenched dress.

"And Daddy's makes four," Drusilla enthused with childlike glee. "I missed Daddy," she said, curling her body up against Angelus'.

"Well, Daddy's back now," he caught her up in his arms, and she squealed in delight, "and he brought all these treats back just for you."

"You're too good to me," Drusilla said coyly, leaning in to kiss him.

Still on the floor, Spike scowled at the two of them, yanking the last knot tight with the fury of vampiric strength.

Darla's eyebrow raised at his reaction, and that strange feeling swept through her once again. Some day this one will be trouble...

"C'mon, my boy," Angelus gave him a pat on the head. "Let's go to bed."

He followed them into the bedroom, and Darla took up the end of the procession. She watched the three younger vampires playing on the mattress and shrugged off her feeling of unease. After all, he was only a Childe.

And with a little screech of her own, she joined the party on the bed.