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Death was simpler the first time around - and the second, but this time she wonders if she really is in hell. After all, the stories that the Catholics tell all discuss a similar place filled with fire and brimstone and agony, and Darla can’t sleep these days without dreaming about flames racing up her skin. It’s all Angelus’s fault - she might have haunted his nights, but she never brought anything to him but pleasant sensations.
Often she wakes with a gasp - or a shriek - that brings Lindsey rushing to the guest room from his bed across the hall. Always she gazes at him with unconcealed distaste as he touches her cool cheek with his palm. This night is no different, and Darla can’t help but salivate at the sound of hot blood rushing beneath his skin.
“Everything all right, darlin’?” His voice is soft and choked with sleep - this conversation is practically scripted they’ve had it so often. Her eyebrow raises.
“Just another nightmare.” Darla complies. “I’ve had a very traumatising experience.”
Unmentioned is the fact that she is generally the cause of trauma - Angel might have been the king of torment before he got his soul, but Darla was far more than his paramour. She was legendary in her own right before Angelus - and after.
Lindsey’s thumb moves gently over her healing skin and she winces slightly and turns away. Her eyes fall to the window and she gauges the night sky - moonlight is streaming through the curtains still and she makes a decision. “I’m going out.”
“Darla,” he protests, his blue eyes wide with worry. The look she sends him quiets him, at least for the moment.
“Do you think I’m foolish enough to step into another puddle of gasoline?”
“Are you going to Angel?”
“Oh, please, Lindsey. As though that isn’t practically the same thing.” She slips out of the bed with practiced ease. “Besides, dear. I’m sick to death of bottled blood, human or otherwise. I’m desperately craving a hot snack.”
Darla glances briefly at his neck and then smiles - he’d be only too willing to let her drink and if he died he’d probably thank her just before. But Lindsey can’t save her from her nightmares so she refuses to indulge him in his dreams.