Disclaimer: Since my name is not Joss Whedon, Buffy: The Vampire Slayerand the amazing characters associated with the show belong to someone who isn't me. I also don't own the story line - that is taken from gidgetgirl's Before She Was Turned Challenge (details below). Lacey belongs to me.
The Before She Was Turned ChallengeUnbeknownst to the others, there was more to Harmony Kendall than met the eye. Two years before she was turned at graduation, Harmony actually gave birth to a child. When the child is turned, it's up to the scoobies to take care of him/her while soulless Harmony wreaks havoc.
Requirements:
Harmony's soul must somehow be tied to the little one.
The little one must be oddly quiet and shy for a Harmony child.
Someone snuggling with the child.
A skinned knee.
Bonus:
Harmony retaining some of her humanity, and the child taking on some vampiric traits...
Author's Note: Apart from the flashback (in italics), and the prologue, which takes place mid Season Five, this story takes place during the sixth season of 'Buffy'. Assume that Harmony never went to L.A.
Prologue
She didn't even have a soul.
How could it hurt so much?
Her heart was dead. It didn't even beat anymore.
How could it be breaking?
"So what do you think?" She turned around in a slow circle, her arms outstretched, so that her audience of one could get the full benefit of the hideous shade of maroon in which she was swathed.
The only reply she got was a giggle.
"You're right, it looks awful."
"Ess." Her companion nodded sagely.
Harmony grinned. "At least you've got my fashion sense. Uggh!" She glared down at her maroon graduation robe. "Why couldn't they listen to me? I begged them to get teal. This is so not my colour."
"Dwess yucky." The toddler announced uncompromisingly from her crib. "Mommy pwitty."
Grinning, Harmony scooped the tiny girl, a miniature of herself in colouring, form and features, up and hugged her tightly.
"You always know what to say to cheer Mommy up, don't you?"
"Ess."
Cradling her daughter in her arms, she found it hard to imagine that there had ever been a time when she had looked upon her as a burden, as an embarrassment, as something to got rid of as soon as possible.
That plan had been forgotten twenty-one months ago, as soon as they had placed her daughter's tiny, five and a half pound body in her arms.
Her parents had been adamant that she never mention the existence of her child to anyone, even her closest friends.
Lacey Kendall was a closely guarded secret.
"Harmony," Her mother called her name softly from the door.
"It's okay, Mom." Harmony grinned. "She's awake."
No matter how hard they tried to get her to take a proper night's sleep, Lacey was a true morning person; often awake before the dawn chorus, despite insisting on staying up half the night before. The toddler seemed to have a knack for managing on only a few hours of sleep, a gift that Harmony would have relished during the early months of her little daughter's life.
"You'd better get going, honey." Mrs Kendall gently pried her granddaughter out of her only child's arms. "You don't want to be late for your last day of school, do you?"
"Mom," Harmony's voice was quiet, uncharacteristically shy. "For the ceremony, do you think you could bring . . ."
"No." Her mother cut her off sharply before softening and continuing in a more gentle tone. "You've kept your secret for so long, you know what people will say about you if they find out. Is that what you want." Not giving her daughter a chance to reply, she continued. "After graduation, you two can go away, like we planned. You've got your trust fund from your grandpa, you can start fresh."
Knowing that arguing with her formidable mother was futile, Harmony nodded in resignation, reaching out to take Lacey for a final hug before leaving.
"Be a good girl for Nanna, munchkin." She kissed the top of her daughter's head, smoothing the soft blonde curls. "I'll see you after graduation."
She had, but not in the way she had planned to.
Rumours about what had happened at the ill-fated graduation ceremony were running rampant and nobody knew what to believe. Even though her parents had been present, they had no idea what had happened to her.
Harmony watched from the darkened garden as her parents took it in turns to call everyone who might have any idea where she was, their expressions becoming more and more hopeless as the night wore on with no word of their daughter's fate.
Even little Lacey was quiet, knowing that something was amiss.
She stayed where she was, never saying a word or moving a muscle, until she sensed the approach of dawn and melted away.
From inside the house, Lacey Kendall toddled over to the window, her blue eyes finding the spot where her mother had been standing, only to see her retreating back.
"Mommy."
Unbeknownst to her parents Harmony spent many nights standing outside her window, watching them, and watching Lacey.
She had seen the ambulance, seen her little girl, impossibly pale, carried out by anxious paramedics, and followed.
Her child was dying.
The doctors had told her as much when she had told them her name and her parents had confirmed it.
The meningitis had attacked swiftly and the three and a half year old had failed to respond to treatment.
She wouldn't last the night.
Lacey's long blonde hair, the same shade as her mother's, had never been cut and the silky tresses reached her tiny waist.
Icy tears flowing down her cheeks, Harmony lifted her little girl into her arms, rocking her back and forth as she had the first time Lacey had been placed in her arms.
The little girl's breathing was shallow but she smiled up at her mother, a trusting expression in her blue eyes.
Pushing her child's hair away from her neck, Harmony allowed herself to morph into her vampiric face, sinking her fangs into Lacey's neck, draining her lifeblood as quickly and as gently as possible, not wanting her to suffer, waiting until her heartbeat had slowed almost to a stop before biting her own wrist and allowing the blood to trickle slowly into the little girl's mouth.
She had given Lacey life before, now she was doing it a second time.
She had to kill her child to allow her to live.
TBC.
Author's Note: Should I bother continuing with this story? Please review and let me know what you think. Does anyone have any idea what category I should put this story in?