Tallulah: Part Three
by Wolfka
As is the normal, all characters and places by Joss Whedon are his sole property and i own none of it. I do own Tallulah, and her companions. Please any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you and enjoy.
***
On a hill top across town, Angel stood looking up at the stars.He hadbeen running trying to get away from the pain he had caused Buffy, trying to get away from the demon that was ripping him up inside. It wasn’t the demon that made him a vampire, it was the demon called guilt. There was a flash in the moonlight, and beside him he saw thata large silver wolf was sitting there. The green eyes were watchinghim steadily. Wanting to just get away from it, Angel contemplated just fleeing from it as well, but he knew this wolf, knew what it wascapable of. He had seen it bring down a ten point buck once, draining it of blood completely before it’s heart had stopped beating, it’s mind had stopped struggling.
“What do you want? What does she want?” he asked tiredly.
The wolf just looked at him steadily, then turning around it startedto walk away. Stopping a few yards away it looked at Angel from over his shoulder, and then barked. Sighing Angel started to follow it.
They walked for two hours away from Sunnydale, heading for themountains, the woods. Upon reaching them the wolf, turned north, and trotted until they came to a private road, which led to an imposingpair of cast iron gates set into a gray brick wall that was ten feet high. Ivy grew up and over the walls, and was entwined within the gates. The gates were cracked open slightly and the wolf just trottedthrough them.
Beyond the gates was an imposing mansion that Angel didn’t have timeto admire, because the wolf passed it by and headed towards the back. About 500 feet from the back of the Mansion was a small chapel, it’s stained glass windows lit by an inner light. The wolf went up to the doors and sat down in front of them.
“Ok Frost, now what? Don’t tell me i have to go in there.” angel saidin a tired voice.
The wolf just looked at him out of the corners of his eyes, barked once and then left, heading towards the overgrowth at the back of the property. Sighing a final time Angel took the old cast iron ring that served as a door handle and went into this forgotten house of God.
* * *
Within the walls of the chapel, Angel came to a halt. The small roomwas warm, due to the presence of a large fire crackling merrily in the fireplace on the wall to his left. Lit only by tall white dripping candles in intricately carved candelabras, the room gave offa coziness due to the much more personal presence that dwelled here. He sat down in one of the wooden pews, sighing heavily as he avertedhis eyes from the simple wooden cross that hung behind the alter.
Sitting there he closed his eyes and let the sheer exhaustion just slip over him little by little. He remembered the anguishedexpression Buffy had worn before he had left her alone in the woods. The way the diamond tears had clung to her thick lashes before slowly making tracks down her cheeks. He had wanted to comfort her, to holdher in his arms, to kiss away the tears, but he couldn’t. His own pain, anger and confusion over the appearance of Tallulah, his relationship with Buffy, and the basic unfairness of it all had been too much, so he had left her there alone in the woods, arms wrappedaround herself, tears falling to the leaves beneath her feet. He hadheard her cry out his name, her pain filled voice tearing and rippinghis heart apart, but he had kept running, kept trying to escape thepain.
He made a promise to himself to go check on her a little before dawn, she would be asleep and would not know that he was there. Watching her sleep was always an exquisite torture to him. He could never help but imagine what it would be like to hold her in his arms while she slept, to be there when she awoke, her big blue eyesmeeting his in an intense gaze. He couldn’t help but wonder what her hair would feel like when it caressed his naked chest, her breath warmon his skin, the electric touch of her lips. He always hoped that this fantasy would come true, at least once. But he knew that it wasvery unlikely to ever happen, she was the Slayer and he was just a vampire.
A cool hand lightly touched his face smoothing out the frown that had formed there, the grimace of pain felt deeply within the soul, catching the tears that fell unnoticed down his cheeks. He opened hiseyes to see Tallulah standing before him, the dark velvets gone to be replaced by a plain white slip dress. Her feet were bare, encirclingher left ankle was a tattoo of various rune symbols, her right anklehad a small copper chain inclosing it. Her dark heavy mane of hair was bound in back with a length of lace, she was still very beautifulin her simplicity.
Finally looking into her face, in her smile he saw happiness, and love for him, but in her eyes he saw worry and a deep seated pain, that would never go away.
“Angelus,” she whispered softly, her small hand dropping away from his face. “It’s been a long time, have you been well?”
“As well as any vampire with a soul can be, Tally,” he replied trying hard to keep his voice neutral.
She sighed and turned away to stare at the leaping flames. “Ah. You are still angry with me after all this time. I had hoped you would have forgiven me by now, perhaps not forget but at least to forgive. I guess I hoped for too much.”
“Why are you here, Tally? Why come back into my life now? Why couldn’t you have just left me alone!” he asked his voice bitter.
She turned to look at him, noticing how his eyes flashed, how he kept looking around for something to hit. Shaking her head slightly she turned away again, this time heading for the stained glass windowson the wall opposite the fire. Staring up at the pictures depicting the last days of Christ, she allowed the silence to settle.
“I once loved a slayer,” she said softly, her eyes gazing at somethingin her past. “Lana was like Buffy, beautiful, smart, and caring. Shebecame like a sister to me, she accepted me, she looked beyond my demonic face and told me she couldn’t wish for a better friend. I tried to protect her, to watch her back, to keep her from harm.. but....” Tally swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears from hervoice. “She was a very successful slayer,” she continued, “she would kill the vampires and be able to walk away with no regrets.She did not allow me to fight her battles, she fought her own, no onehelped her. She was very strong. This all changed when she fell in love with a very handsome man, who I did not trust. Over all of myprotestations and warnings, Lana married her ‘prince.’
Taking another deep breath, her eyes closing in pain, she went on. "She looked so happy on her wedding night. Dressed all in white,her fair hair shining in the moonlight, laughter on her lips, Icouldn’t be angry with her, after all she was my sister. I wished her well.. and that was the last time I saw her.
“The night of her wedding, Lana was killed by her husband, she washorribly mutilated, her hair was shorn from her head and on what wasleft of her face there was a look of sheer terror. I took one look ather, and I was overcome by blinding rage. Her Watcher tried to holdme back, but I got away... I went on a hunt that would end with someone being very much dead. I was determined to find that bastard she loved and rip his entrails out of his body, and force him to eatthem. I wanted to make him suffer as my poor Lana had suffered.”
Angel looked up to see the woman that he knew turn into somethingmuch darker, her voice was filled with a hatred that could be matched by no other, her eyes were dark with a cold fire, and he shivered, his heart filled with dread.
“I found him in a cave not too far from Lana’s home, he was lying on the floor already near death, someone had gotten to him before me. When he saw me he started to cry, he told me of a bargain he had madewith a demon who happened to be in league with a Vampire Master. A bargain which stated that he would be responsible for finding the Slayer, making her fall in love with him and then killing her.In return he would receive eternal life. The night of the wedding, he found that he couldn’t bring himself to do it, and he told the demon so. He had fallen in love, and eternity wasn’t worth the separation from Lana.
“The demon became enraged, he grabbed control of the man’s bodyand proceeded to rape, mutilate and kill, my dear Lana. In reward forhis disobedience, the demon promised and delivered a slow waltz towards death.”
Sighing, Tally lifted her head, eyes open now, still gazing blindly on her past, they no longer flashed with anger, but were dull with pain. “What could I do? Knowing the truth, I knew that my anger had been unjust. I decided to speed up his death, and so I took him into my arms and I killed him swiftly and neatly.”
She fell silent, coming back from that horrific scene from her past she looked straight at Angel. “Angelus, I know what it is like to love someone who is rather unattainable. You love Buffy in a different yet similar way that I loved Lana. You love Buffy as one would a lover,and I loved Lana as a friend and sister, but we are both forever separated from them because of the demon’s blood running in our bodies.” She came over to where he still sat, crouching down besidehim, she touched his face gently, “Angelus, it is good to be in love with someone it reminds, you that we are still in some ways human. Take what you can now, my friend, make what memories you can tofall back on when you are alone for the eternity to come, take them now, because Slayers are notoriously short lived.”
Rising to her feet, she touched his face one last time, ruffled his hair slightly and then turned towards the front of the chapel. Walking slowly to the alter she knelt in front of it, her head bowedin prayer. Angel watched her for a moment, then a memory of the firsttime he had seen her do this ritual, came up into his mind like a ghost.
He had just regained his soul, and he had been nearly knocked unconscious by the overwhelming feelings of guilt, betrayal, angerand hurt. Tally had been there to guide him away from the angry Romany clan, her hands gentle, her arms strong. She had led him toan old abandoned church in the middle of a forest, had laid him down in the dark, away from the sunlight. When he had awoken from a longsleep, candles were burning all around, and before the alter knelthis new mentor.
He had laughed at her, sarcastically reminding her that she was avampire and a witch at that, God doesn’t listen to devil’s spawn. She had just looked at him with her big eyes, and had whispered in a soft voice, “I may be a vampire and a witch, but I still have my soul, as do you, may I remind you. I turned my back on God, God did not turn his back on me. I pray to ask for forgiveness for my sins, in the hopes that one day I may enter heaven. There is always hope Angelus. Remember that, that there is always hope, evenfor us, the damned.”
He had mocked her then, but he had always remembered her words, to never give up hope. Turning towards the doors he saw that his guide was waiting for him, her green eyes shining in the candlelight. “Hope,” he whispered.
Turning he followed the black cat through the doors back into the lonely night. Just before he closed the doors he heard Tally say, “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned...”
This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1755