Creative Works   

Though Lovers Be Lost (Part 4)
By Amy Mina
amymina(at)yahoo.com

Disclaimer: All of the characters like Buffy, Giles, Angel, etc. belong to Joss Whedon and the Mutant Enemy Company. Characters that were seen in Extra Help Needed still belong to themselves.

. . .

"What do you think?" Angelus asked Drusilla as they entered the warehouse. Drusilla looked around and smiled in her usual way.

"It's perfect, my darling," she said, walking over to one of the walls. "It smells damp."

"That's because of the fire that was in here awhile ago. That's what I hate most about relocating. Finding someplace new to live in that is halfway decent."

"That's okay, my Angel. I love it," said Drusilla. "Do you think Amy will like it?"

"Probably not, Dru," said Angelus, walking towards her.

"Then it is perfect." She took Miss Edith into her arms and looked at him with imploring eyes. "When am I going to get my toy Angel?"

"Soon, Dru, soon. First, I think we should go check out the local school to see if we can find something to eat."

"I'm hungry, my tummy is all growly. What about everyone else?"

Angelus shrugged carelessly. "Let them fend for themselves. If there are too many bodies on campus, it will alert everyone that we are here."

"Let's go," said Drusilla, holding Angel's hand in one hand and Miss Edith in the other.

. . .

When the slayer and her friends stepped off the plane into the airport, Buffy stretched to relax and most of her friend's followed her cue.

"What time is it, Giles?" she asked.

"Well, by California standards, it is only five thirty."

"That means it is eight-thirty here."

"I guess so."

"Shoot, we're over an hour later than planned."

"What are we going to get to Barker in?" asked Willow.

"Well, I have arranged a van to be ready for us, so we had better hurry to get there," said Giles. He lead the teenagers down to the lobby so that they could collect all of their luggage. Xander decided to impress the ladies and tried to carry all of Cordelia's as well as Buffy's luggage.

"How much did you guys bring?" he yelled at them.

"Well, lets see," started Cordelia. "There are the normal everyday clothes, that is one suitcase, my prom dress which is another suitbag, my makeup which is that big one there-"

"All of that room for just your makeup?"

"What did you think, that makeup is just a waste of time?"

"With you good looks, I didn't think you would need it," he replied with grin.

"Aww, that's so sweet," said Cordelia. Buffy rolled her eyes and made a gagging sound. Willow and Oz both smiled at her reaction.

"Here we are," said Giles. Xander helped him load up the luggage, and he moved towards the driver seat.

"I don't think so," said Buffy, standing next to the door. "I'm driving."

"What?" said Giles, surprised.

"We are already late, and you drive like a sixty year old. Hand me the keys."

"I think not," said Giles.

"Come on, you watcher, me slayer. Slayer beat up watcher if he isn't careful. Now, we need to get to Barker, hand me the keys."

"I don't think-"

"Giles, I don't like practicing my skills in parking lots, but it is always a choice."

"Fine," he mumbled, against his better judgment. He handed her the keys, and climbed in the front seat next to her. Getting out the map, he began to lead her to Barker.

. . .

"Great job everyone," shouted Mr. Kraus in the chorus room. "Leave the robes on the chairs and I'll see you tomorrow." He walked over to Alicia. "Hey, Alicia. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good," she answered.

"Be careful on your way home."

"I will, don't worry."

"Okay." He wanted to say more, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amy leave the room. Alicia sent him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to go talk to Amy..."

Mr. Kraus nodded his head. "I'll see you later." Alicia ran out of the chorus room to catch up with Amy.

"Why doesn't she understand?" Angela asked herself.

"I don't know," answered Mr. Kraus.

. . .

"Hey," said Alicia, "what are you doing?"

"Heading down to the band room to pick up my clarinet and then go home," replied Amy.

"Are you parked in the band parking lot?"

"Yep."

"I'll walk outside with you. My car is parked there too."

"Okay." When they got down to the band room, Amy held up the door, and they walked inside. "Are you going to get your French horn?" asked Amy.

"I won't have any time to practice it before the prom."

"Me neither, I guess there is no point to me taking it home, but my dad told me to, so I don't feel like getting in trouble."

Amy and Alicia walked outside into the night air and Amy took in a deep breath. "I love the country at night. Don't you have to be home by nine o'clock?"

"Yeah, but I'll be there on time. I wanted to know how you were doing?"

"Why?"

"You seemed a little out of it at band today, and I just wondering if you were okay."

"Actually," said Amy, quietly, "I was thinking about Angel."

"What about him?"

"I was thinking about who is right, me or Mr. Kraus."

Alicia was surprised at this train of thought and tried not to smile. If everything would work out and Amy would trust her friends again, things may return to normal. "Who do you trust?" she asked.

"I don't know, one thing that I learned watching Buffy out in Sunnydale is that you need to trust your mentor no matter what. But then, Angel was my mentor when I was younger--I don't know. Life is so confusing."

"What do you want to do?" asked Alicia.

"I want to ask Angel myself."

"Ask me what?" came the voice from behind Amy. She turned around in surprise, and within a few seconds, all cautions fled and she ran over to give him a hug.

"Angel!" she cried excitedly. Backing up, she took a look at him. Something was different, something Amy couldn't explain. Pushing those thoughts away, she tried to give him a confident smile. "Where have you been lately?"

"Around. I promised I would come up to visit you."

"You know there has been rumors flying around about you."

"I heard. You probably want to know if they are true or not."

"That would be helpful."

Angel backed up from her and his face changed to that of a vampire. Amy heard Alicia gasp behind her and moved backwards in confusion. "Amy, Amy, Amy, there are some things in life you just don't question. You should trust what your mentor tells you."

"Angel?" Amy whispered.

"No, I'm sorry. Angel's not home right now. If you leave a message at the beep, he'll never get it, so I don't see a point in trying."

"Angel," came a voice from behind the vampire. "Is that my new toy?" A tall, beautiful vampire walked out from behind Angel and took his arm. Angel looked at her and then smiled at Amy and Alicia.

"I guess I should introduce you. Drusilla, this is Amy and a friend. Amy and friend, this is Drusilla, one of my many children."

Amy turned back to look at Alicia. She was dressed in a long skirt with heels on her shoes. Amy wasn't dressed much better. Clutching her clarinet even closer, she knew that they were going to have to try to make a run for it. It was obvious to her now who to believe, but she also knew that it might be too late.

"What do you want Angel?" asked Angel, slowly inching over to Alicia to position herself in front of the second girl.

"Revenge on Buffy is always a good thing, but since she isn't here, and we aren't hungry anymore, I guess kidnapping will have to do."

"Hungry?" questioned Alicia.

"Those lovely singers made such good meals. You know, Amy, I told them about you and your friends. They screamed out your name as they died."

Amy tried not to lean over and get sick in the parking lot. "You aren't getting anyone else Angelus, do you understand me."

"Stop me," he replied. Amy turned around and gave Alicia a shove.

"RUN!" she screamed. Alicia ran back towards the school, not knowing where else to go. Amy turned around and saw Angelus walking towards Alicia. "I don't think so!" she screamed at him. Angelus licked his lips and walked towards her. Amy grabbed the handle of the clarinet case and swung as hard as possible. Trying to back it with her mental power, she was hoping it would do some type of damage so that Alicia could get away.

When the clarinet case hit him, Amy watching his head move with the force of the impact, but then he looked at her and laughed. "When was the last time you trained, Amy? You're getting weaker." Amy could feel herself flying, and as she landed, she twisted her ankle. Trying to hide a cry of pain, she scrambled back as Angelus began to walk over to her. Angelus reached down and roughly picked her up by her shoulders. Behind him, Amy could see Alicia struggling against Drusilla.

"Let her go, Angelus. She isn't the one you came here for."

"No, but she would make such a nice toy for Drusilla. See before I changed Dru, I made her a little crazy. She watched me kill off her family, friends, even the priest that she talked to. She likes toys and that girl would make a good one, especially since she is your friend."

"Please, Angel, don't hurt her."

Angelus changed his face back into that of a human and began to lean towards her. Amy fought to get away, but he kept a strong grip on her shoulders and wouldn't let her go. "Don't worry, Amy, I'm not going to kill you now. That's for later." Putting his mouth next to her ear, she had to stop struggling to hear what he had to say. "First, I'm going to make you suffer through the pain of your friend." The last thing Amy heard before Angelus knocked her out was Alicia's scream at the sight of her falling to the pavement.

. . .

Alicia watched as Angelus turned towards her. She looked in horror at the sight of her friend. The part of her clarinet that Angelus had used to hit her laid next to her body. Alicia grabbed the cross and held unto it as Angelus walked over. She felt Drusilla holding her arm so that she couldn't run. She had given up on struggling by now, the vampires were too strong for her.

"Poor Amy," said Angelus, as she got closer to Alicia. "She should have listened to Mr. Kraus. I'm sure he told her about me."

"So what if he did?" said Alicia, definitely.

"It's too late to really matter. You're coming with us."

"Where?" asked Alicia.

"Miss Edith tells me she wants to have tea with her, Angel," said Drusilla. Alicia felt her skin crawl at the voice of the female vampire. She way she talked, drawled out each syllable, made Alicia wonder what was so different about her.

"Miss Edith and you can have all of the fun with this girl that you want. I think we should take her back with us to our new home."

"No!" shouted Alicia, struggling once again, even though she knew it was useless. "Let me go!"

Angelus laughed at her actions. "Do you really think that you are going to change my mind?" Alicia felt her eyes tear up as she realized that it was usless to try and escape.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked.

"Nothing yet."

"What about Amy?"

Angelus gave a ironic laugh at her question. "I don't believe this. You are the one in danger, you're the one who might die here, and you are worried about her?"

"Is she alive?"

He shrugged carelessly. "Who knows, who cares?"

"Angel," drawled Drusilla, "you should hide her. If you don't, her friends might find her and take away my toy." Alicia tried not to cry at the thought of being the toy of this creature. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing her upset.

"You're right, Dru." Dragging Amy by her arms, he pulled her behind two nearby bushes. "Is that better?"

"Much," said Drusilla. "I don't want anyone to interrupt our tea party."

"Come on," said Angelus, moving forward and taking Alicia's other arm. He and Drusilla pulled her toward their car, sitting in a nearby parking lot. Alicia was forced in the front between Angelus and Drusilla as they drove off. Please, God, don't let these creatures win.

. . .

"Here we are," said Buffy, turning off the engine.

"Hey, Buff," said Xander from the backseat, "I think you gave Giles a few more white hairs."

"Where do you think I get all of them from?" asked Giles.

"I thought we would never get here!" said Cordelia, as they got out of the van. "When they said out in the country, I didn't think they meant with the cows and the pigs."

"That what the country usually is," said Buffy. "So where is Mr. Upton?"

"Right here," said a voice from behind her. The group of kids turned and saw the teacher standing behind them. "Mr. Kraus is waiting up is his room for you if you would like to see him and the others."

"Thank you for your help," said Giles. "Could you show us where that is?"

"Follow me," he said. He lead them through a nearby door and to the second story music room. When he arrived at two large metal doors, he opened them and motioned from them to go inside. Then they arrived in, Mr. Kraus, as well as Beth, Angela, Pete, and Brad were waiting for them.

"Willow!" squealed Angela excited and went running towards her. Willow was caught up in a bear hug before she knew what happened. The rest of the people in the room quickly intermingled. After a few minutes of greetings and introductions of Oz, they finally calmed down enough to begin to talk.

"That was fast," said Beth.

"That's right," said Buffy. "No more fatalities in this game."

"I need to be going," said Mr. Upton. "Just to let you know, everyone one here, as well as Bob has agreed to take one of you to their homes. I talked to Mr. Kahler, the principal, and he knows you are on your way, so I'll see you all tomorrow in school."

As he walked out, Xander turned to Beth. "So, Beth, where is your other friend?"

"She's no longer one of us," she replied, the anger showing in her eyes. "She chose to believe that Angel was still good and dropped out." Xander looked surprised at Buffy.

"Did you know?" he asked. She slowly nodded her head yes. He then looked at Willow, and she did the same thing. "Thanks for telling me, guys."

"Xander, we just forgot about it. Why do you think we were in such a hurry to get out here."

"We can talk about that later," said Giles. "Right now I think we need to disperse for the night and get some sleep. Angelus could show up at anytime and we need to be ready."

. . .

That's it!! Bob wanted to scream. After two days of searching and almost no sleep, he finally found the way to restore Angel's soul. It was going to take a lot of help, but he should be able to do it. Bob looked at his watch. If I hurry, maybe Mr. Kraus and the other two girls might still be in the school. If the slayer and friends are going to be here tonight, maybe I could get his started tonight. The sooner, the better. Bob climbed out his window, not want anyone to know that he left the house, and ran out to his car. Hoping in, he tried to be quiet as it started up and he pulled out of the driveway. As he pulled in the driveway to the school, he could tell that the chorus room lights were still on. Quickly parking the car next between Amy's and a van, he ran inside. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he found himself colliding with another person and staring up at the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths, making sure that he could still feel all of the bones in his body. When he decided that he was okay, he turned to look at the other person. It was Willow.

"Willow? Are you okay?" he asked. Realizing that everyone was standing around them and watching, he slowly got up and helped her up.

"Yeah, I think so. I can feel the ouchies in my head, I think that's good." She tightly grasped his hand and got up, holding her head in her hand. "Where were you going in such a rush?"

"Trying to catch you guys before you left. I found it," he said.

"Found what?" asked Buffy.

"A spell to return Angel's soul."

. . .

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