Atherlae: Part 8
by Fox Lee
Legal Stuff: Buffy the Vampire Slayer concept & characters (Buffy, Angel, Oz, Willow, Cordelia, Xander, Giles, Drusilla & Kendra) are tm & (c) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and basically belong to them, Joss Whedon, The WB Television Network and Mutant Enemy (Rrrr...Argh...). They were created by Joss Whedon, and I have absolutely nothing to do with it (wish I did). Atherlae is an otherwise original work that is (c) Fox Lee 1999, (yours truly). Any similarity between events in this story and in real life (yeah, that happened to ME and MY vampire boyfriend just the other day!) is purely coincidental and unintended (so deal with it). If you like this story and want it posted on your page, lack of frequent e-mail access prompts me to say 'feel free - in fact, please do', so long as you don't edit any bits and you make sure my name's on it along with this message. If you do re-post it, please e-mail me to let me know.

Last edited: 10-3-99

Timespan: This would either have to take place before Angel turned evil again, or after his return (he ain't back yet in Australia...*SOB*...). I began writing it just after the episode "Ted". Please note that I can't be held responsible for any inaccuracies that I wasn't aware of at this point, and that I've only actually seen about five or six episodes (not including the comics or what I've read on the Internet). What I'm trying to say is if I've screwed up, don't be too disgusted (but e-mail me and tell me so I don't embarrass myself too much!).

E-mail: Compliment me, criticize me, yell at me, insult me...heck, I don't care. The place to send it all is cyberslayerfox@yahoo.com. If that doesn't work properly (it ain't my fault) try fox_lee@hotmail.com.

Gimmicky promo stuff (!!!!!): Keep an eye out for my second Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfic, There Can Be Only One, in which a summer adventure camp and a mysterious girl tied to Angel's past cause some serious trouble for the Slayer and her friends. Also, a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary school dance in A Night To Remember. Coming soon from Cyberslayer (hey, that's me!).

Oh, by the way: If you've got this story on your page and would like a decent-looking html version with groovy graphics, decent fonts, formatting etc. (I REALLY hate .txt files), please contact me.



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Part Eight

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Buffy squatted next to the bushes where the creature had first emerged. She'd spent almost two hours searching for a trail. For anything. A footprint, a hair, a mutilated body. But there was nothing. She should've expected nothing more, since they'd already established that it was no ordinary creature.

Dispirited and depressed, the Slayer plodded down to the edge of the duck pond. She kicked at the water angrily, wishing that she could go back in time two days and tell Angel to get the hell away from her before it even appeared. She was still sure that that bite had been meant for her. Miserably, she waded out into the middle of the duck pond, slumping down in the water, well aware of how pathetic she must have looked and wishing that Angel could be there to tell her. Everything made her think of him. The park, the pond, the stars. He was all that was missing.

No, he wasn't, she suddenly realized. Something else was. Something had been there on Saturday but wasn't there now. Something...but what?! It was unbearably frustrating. She needed an outlet, something she could kill, or at least hit really, really hard. She might even have been grateful if that horrid goose had been around...

"Count Duckula..." It hit her like a freight train. She'd been sitting in the pond for ages, but the goose hadn't shown up. On Saturday, it had only taken moments for it to chase them away. That was what was wrong. A big, ugly goose had disappeared.

Springing to her feet as quickly as the muddy water would allow, the bedraggled Slayer splashed her way over to the opposite bank of the pond, where the goose had come from. But Count Duckula, as Angel had named it, was apparently not home. Excited, sure she had found some manner of lead, Buffy circled the pond, hurriedly rifling through the bushes and weeds, until the ground made a peculiar crunch under her foot. Immediately, the pungent aroma of death met her nostrils.

Count Duckula, or what was left of him, was not a pretty sight. The goose had been decapitated, all flesh, skin and feathers gone but for a few pathetic, dried-up remains. The grass around the body was trampled and messy; it appeared that Duckula had put up a fight, even if it was a really lame one.

Don't get too carried away, she reminded herself as she knelt down and inspected the carcass. A cat or dog could easily have killed it.

She pried the goose's beak open, and was rewarded for her efforts by a small snatch of blackish-gray hair. This she pocketed, not entirely sure how she might benefit from it, but aware that it may help somehow. As Giles would have quoted, 'better to be safe than sorry'.

"It was a pretty creature," a familiar voice came from behind her. "I fed it bread once. But it was not so pretty as the one that took its life."

"What are you doing here?!" Buffy snarled. She faced a black-clad figure, face obscured by shadows, but the Slayer was only too aware of who was beneath it as she leapt to her feet. "I could kill you in a second, you know."

"But if you did, I couldn't tell you about it."

Buffy felt one hand slide unconsciously to her stake. "About what?!"

"You know. The one who hurt my Angelus."

Your Angelus?! Buffy thought indignantly.

"What do you know about it?" She demanded.

"I know she was pretty. Very pretty. A girl. A mother. It hurt her when you called her 'it'."

"Don't waste my time, I'm warning you..."

"Atherlae. That is the name. She lives near here. And that is all I can say. She would be angry with me if I said any more. She is pretty when she is not angry. And when she hunts."

"Why did she attack Angel?!"

"She likes to hunt," came the calm reply, as if it were obvious. "She once liked many things. They made her happy. There were many more when she was young. But they were all killed."

Silently, not budging in her gaze or stance, Buffy took note of it.

The figure cocked her head to the side. "Is that all you want to know?"

"And why you're helping me."

"If you succeed, he will live," she replied simply.

"And that's what you want?" Buffy assumed.

There was no answer.

"Answer me!" the Slayer demanded, raising the stake that seemed to be aching in her palm.

Immediately, a vanguard of vampires, roughly fifteen or more, appeared from the dark. Buffy gave herself a mental kick. Why hadn't she been concentrating?!

The Slayer tensed herself for the inevitable combat.

"Don't fight them all. We don't want to fight now. We want to go home."

The infuriated Slayer ground her teeth in frustration as her informant turned and left, her apparent henchmen backing away and not taking their eyes from the Slayer. Buffy was half-tempted to run after them and take as many out as she could before they killed her. Maybe she would even be able to survive.

No, she decided, clenching and unclenching her fists as she watched them go. The odds were against her, and if she didn't find this 'atherlae' thing, Angel didn't stand a chance.

Buffy had never thought she had much of an ego, but as she turned and ran back to the library, she realized that something had definitely been crippled by the knowledge that she had been aided by Drusilla.


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