The Circle Series: The Prophecy and the Traitor: Part Three
by Elf
"They have their fangs into everything. Money, politics, media, everything," Ash said as they pulled up to Angel's building.

Angel asked, "So, do you?"

Ash's manor was now focused and intense. She was telling the truth, Angel knew that now. She answered, "Yeah, but for the supernatural stuff, magic and spells, I'm lacking. I have very few, if any, vampires that are loyal to me as Jaq was. The others have whole covens and brotherhoods."

They stepped out of the car. Angel still had her ring. She had told him to keep it. She wasn't part of the Circle anymore. Angel asked, "Okay, you said politically. How is the Circle involved with politics?"

Ash answered, "That's simple. We have spies that watch them. I can call up and tell you what the president is doing right now, what he ate that day, how long he sleeps, and if he has a teddy bear named Johnny." She grinned at Angel and added, "He does have a teddy bear named Johnny by the way."

"Okay, that information was really irrevent, but okay," Angel said as they walked into the building.

Ash said, "There's more. I can hurt the Circle if I wanted to, but they can hurt me as well. So, I'm gonna need protection."

Angel looked at her and replied, "You're not going to get it from me. This is just a grandstanding agreement. We defeat the Circle and you get to live. No protection, nothing else. You give me information and you get to live. If you betray me, Ash, I will hunt you down and kill you."

She frowned and asked, "When did this just happen? When did you make this agreement without telling me?"

Angel walked passed her as he answered, "Just now."

"Well, I have a problem with it," she said as she slid in front of him. Her eyes glittered as she said, "I think I should have some say into these things. I'm not gonna be your little spy."

"Well, if you want protection, you better give me a reason to protect you," Angel told her smoothly with a half grin as he swept past her.

Ash sneered, "Fine, I'll be your little spy then. I'll sit in on the meetings and tell you what's happening then."

Angel smiled at her and said, "Thank you. Protection granted."

"Go to Hell," she spat.

He smiled at her and replied, "Been there, done that, and deja' vu isn't what it use to be."

She was silent as she followed him into the office. He opened the door and Cordelia and Wesley looked at him, then Ash, in disbelief. Ash smiled at both of them, like the cat who had just eaten the canary. Angel whispered to her, "And no games."

Ash only smiled wickedly at them. She said, "Hi, I'm Ash."

Cordelia snapped, "What the hell is she doing here, Angel? She's evil!"

"Hey, that isn't the right terminology there," Ash told her mockingly.

Cordy glared as she replied, "I don't care, you're a vampire."

"So's Angel, but you're not jumping down his throat, are you?" Ash smiled smoothly.

Angel stepped between the two women. Wesley asked, "Why is she here, Angel?"

"It's a long story," Angel nervously answered as he rubbed the back of his neck. He was uncomfortable. He had known that his staff wouldn't react too well to the site of Ash.

Ash answered cheerfully, "I didn't want the Circle to take over the world. I set it up so Angel could find me in a non-battle environment, and I told him that I'll help him so I can get out of everything alive."

"Okay, so it wasn't that long," Angel mumered to no one in particular.

Ash smiled brilliantly at him and replied, "You just have to know how to word things, Angel."

"Thanks for the tip," Angel snapped at her. She smiled, satisfied that she had irked him. Angel's hands clinched into fists so hard that he felt his nails start to bite into his palms.

"You could just always stake her, you know," Cordelia told him.

Angel smiled at her then gave Ash a wicked look. "I might have to take you up on that offer, Cordy," he said.

Ash stretched like a cat and replied, "You can try, Angel."

Angel only grinned in response. She was baiting him for a game of cat and mouse, and he didn't care. He could play games with her until the world ended. And, truth to be told, he was having a little fun sparing with her.

"Could you two stop and could we have some useful information here?" Wesley asked desperately.

Ash smiled and answered, "The Circle is finding someway to make them invulnerable. No crosses, no sunlight, no garlic, the whole nine yards. I don't know exactly how, but I'll find out."

Wesley smiled and asked, "See, what that so hard?"

Angel only glared quietly at him while Ash smiled at Angel. She slowly winked as she turned away.

Angel took out her ring from her pocket. He told her, "Ash, I think you'll need this." She turned around and he tossed the ring to her. She caught it in midair. She frowned at him. Angel only smiled. he thought as he looked into her eyes.


* * *
"Okay, the bastard's having a little too much fun with this," Ash told herself as she entered the hotel room. She was surprised to see one of Dais' warriors sitting on her bed. He was tall, around seven feet, dressed all in black, with sandy blond hair pulled back into a pony tail. His head swivled at her as she walked in.

"Hello Ash, where have you been all night?" he asked in a deep voice.

"It's none of your business. You're a flunky for Dais, and I don't have to listen to you," she told him as she slid out of her jacket.

He told her, "I've been watching you all night, Ash. Have you betrayed the Circle?"

"Go to hell," she replied as she walked away from him.

He stepped in front of her in one swift motion. He grabbed her wrists and hoisted her off the ground. Fear coiled in her belly. He sniffed her throat and said, "You know, there is an easy way to bribe me into silence."

"Get off of me," Ash sneered as she struggled in of the stronger vampire's grasp.

He pulled her closer and burred his head into her hair. He said, "You know the penalty of betraying the Circle is death, Ash. It would be so much easer to just say yes and not die."

Fury sparked deep within her. No upstart servant of a vampire was going to do this to her. She kicked him strait between the legs. He howled out in pain and dropped her. She drove her heel into his face, sending him crashing to the ground.

She then took off her shoe and flipped him over so that he was facing her. She said, "Or, I could always do THIS!" She drove the wooden heel into his heart with some resistance, but it penetrated right through. He exploded into a cloud of ash at her feet.

"No turning back now, is there?" she asked herself as she looked down at the pile of ash on the floor.


* * *
The Circle was having a meeting tonight, so Ash had to go. She had slept fitfully that day, reflecting on the past night. she thought, She smiled as she rode the elevator up to the top floor. She stepped off and started to walk to the conference room.

Dais walked beside her. He said, "James called in last night."

"Who's James?" she asked. Really, she didn't know who James was.

Dais answered, "Tall, around seven feet, sandy blond hair pulled back in a pony tail. He's really not hard to miss in a crowd."

She sweetly replied, "Neither are you, Warrior." she thought as she watched him. She smiled as she waited for Dais to respond.

"He didn't check back in with me last night," Dais said pointily.

she thought with panic. She replied flippantly, "Well, maybe Angel got a hold of him. Angel may be smaller than your James, but, I'd wager that Angel's smarter." He glared at her. She smiled and added, "Just my random thoughts though."

Dais sneered, "If you're playing some sort of game, Ash, so help me, I will kill you."

"You can try," Ash replied sweetly. Bastards like him, Damon and the Demon Brat were the reasons that she was betraying the Circle.

She turned on her heels and walked into the conference room. The rest of the Circle was already sitting there.


* * *
Angel had decided to meet Ash in a crowded club. Ash had sent him an e-mail saying that the Circle was getting slightly suspicious of her actions. If someone was watching them in a crowded club, they would probably assume she was playing her games again. So, he was terribly uncomfortable in a crowded club.

It seemed like everyone had someone, or was going to find someone before the night was over. Angel was alone. He would always be alone he realized. On several occasions, Cordelia had tried to get him out to meet other people, but he wouldn't. He couldn't. He brought danger to everyone's life, and not to mention the fact that he couldn't give a human girl the relationship he needed. He wasn't about to betray the reasons he left Buffy. It would be a cold day in Hell before he would get himself tangled with a mortal.

Angel felt Ash's presence. He felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to see the stunning blonde smiling at him. She told him, "They're getting suspicious, at least Dais is."

"Who's Dais?" Angel asked her. He wanted to know all he could about the Circle.

Ash answered, "The Warrior, and a real prime bastard. We sort of have an uneasy understanding. I sort of kicked his ass during the fifteen hundreds." She shrugged it off.

She was worried about this Dais. Angel asked, "What threat is he to you?"

Ash answered, "A big one. Dais' coven is filled with handpicked warriors from around the world. Ninjas, Samurai, assassins, knights, you name it, he's got it."

"But does he know?" Angel asked her.

"He's getting bits of it. One of his servants followed me last night and was waiting in my hotel room when I got there," she told him with a shrug.

Angel asked her, "What happened after that?"

Ash answered, "He did something that set me off and I staked him with my heel."

Oddly enough, Angel could see Ash doing that to another vampire. Angel asked her, "What did he do, then?"

Ash frowned and answered, "He offered me something I *had* to refuse."

"What did he offer?" Angel asked her, but he was beginning to figure out what he offered, or offered her to do in return for her silence.

"He's not my type," she told him icily, not looking at him, but looking into the crowd. She focused on something. Angel didn't turn around, he just grouped out with his senses on what she was looking at. It was a vampire, a female.

"Shit, one of Damon's sluts," she sneered.

"Which one is Damon?" he asked her. He knew that Damon had to be on the Circle, but he wanted to know which member was he.

"The Seducer," she answered quickly. Then her blue eyes flickered over him appreciatively as she said, "But you could give him a run for his money."

"What is the girl doing?" Angel asked uneasily, trying to change the subject.

"Shit," she cursed as she stood up. Angel stood up as well. She clamped down on Angel's hand and said, "She's gonna go narc on me, the little nasty trick." She started to drag Angel through the crowd after her. Angel shook her off and followed her. He could handle following someone, but didn't like to be dragged.

Angel told her, "You go to the left, and I'll cut her off at the right." Angel had a good look at her now. She was average height, had close cropped honey blond hair, well built, nicely shaped, dressed in a tight, neon pink, tank dress that bearly covered what society demanded, and was holding on by a thread. It was a blessing that the girl didn't breathe, or she would burst out of the dress.

They spit up and followed her out of the club. Angel cut in front of her. She blinked and said, "You're Angelus."

"Angel," he corrected her and said, "Yeah, and I could ask you what the hell you're doing."

She shrugged and said, "There is nothing you can do about it."

"You're wrong about that, you nasty trick," Ash said from behind the girl. The girl spun around. Ash smiled like a cat and said, "Hi Cassie. I guess you ain't gonna be warming Damon's bed any more." She gave a mockingly sympathetic shake of her head.

Cassie spat, "You sadistic bitch. The Circle is going to take over the world, and I'll rule as Damon's queen."

Ash's expression was truly sympathetic, "Cass, Damon tells that to all of his fledglings, he told you that just so you'll stay with him."

Cassie snarled. Angel looked at Ash, who only shrugged. "You bitch," Cassie spat at Ash.

Ash took up a stance and said, "Well, come on. Attack me."

She lunged at Ash, but Angel was quicker than she was. He hit the mechanical device on his arm to let the stake out. He plunged it into the vampire's back. She looked up at him with shock and surprise written across her features. She exploded into a cloud of ash, leaving only a ring.

Angel bent down and picked it up. It was the Circle design, but it was lacking the garnets of Ash's ring. Ash said, "That signifies that you're a servant of the Circle. You get a ring, but it doesn't have the gems on it."

Angel wasn't paying any attention to her. He looked up at her and asked, "They're really getting suspicious of you, aren't they?"

Ash shrugged and sank deeper into her leather jacket, like she was cold. Suddenly Angel knew what she was doing by betraying them. They would hunt her down, torture her and, finally, kill her, but not a something as simple as a stake through the heart. Ash shrugged and said, "Let the bastards. I don't care. I really didn't want to be in the Circle in the first place."

"Then why did you join?" he asked her as they walked to his car.

"They offered to teach me things, and there was something about Hunters I liked. He got down to business, and had honor," she answered. Then she snorted, "A vampire having honor, that's a good one."

Angel thought suddenly, but tried to push the thought away. She didn't go back on her promises. She could of easily said to the girl, "We can take him, come on." Then, caught him off guard and did whatever she wanted to do. But, strangely enough, she didn't.

Ash said, "I was sort of pathetic. I really didn't know anything about immortality, except I didn't like crosses, garlic and Holy water, and that sunlight, a stake through the heart and beheading could kill me, and that I had to drink blood to ‘live'. I sort of drifted. Until Hunters found me."

"How did he find you?" Angel asked her as they slid into the car.

"Similar to you found me, except I was beside the kills," she answered as Angel twisted the key in the engine.

"Why did you join?" Angel asked her again. She had touched on the subject and skipped around it. Ash seemed like the type of vampire who was a loner or a leader, sort of like him, he supposed.

Ash smiled sadly and answered, "A witch named Patricia, someone who mothered me when I had never been mothered before."

"What about your own mother?" Angel asked her, glad that he was getting some insight to her past.

"That's a story for another time. Anyway, she took me in and taught me *things*. Like art, music, and just how to enjoy life," Ash answered him.

"What about your sire?" Angel asked her. It was very rarely that a sire would abandon his fledgling after the change.

Her face twisted into a grimace as she answered, "That bastard. He could rot in hell for all I care. In fact, I hope he does."

Angel let the subject drop. Sometimes the way a vampire was sired determined what sort of vampire they would be. Darla had tricked him. He had driven Drusilla to madness, and Spike was a drunken Cockney lad that Angel found a bit of himself in. Penn was someone he could corrupt, and most other vampires were just cannon fodder.

"Then, why don't you kill him?" Angel asked her, seeing what she would say. He was just testing the waters a little bit.

She smiled just a bit as she answered, "If only I could find the son of a bitch I would."

Angel turned and asked, "Where do you want me to drop you off at?"

Ash shrugged and answered, "I'm not sure. Anywhere would be good."

"Do you have a way to get back to your hotel room?" Angel asked her. Not that he was worried about her. No, he wasn't worried. Was he? He looked dead at the road and the speeding lights.

Ash nodded and answered, "Yeah, I can find away if I needed too." She was quiet, lost in her own thoughts. The thoughtful expression on her face didn't belong there, it was just to out of place on the face that was usually mocking. It was disturbing.

"Ash?" he asked tentatively.

She looked at him and pointed, "The corner will be fine."

Angel pulled over and let her out. She was haloed by the red stop light above her head, casting her in a ruby glow. It highlighted her hair and made her eyes look violet. She looked lovely, he had to admit. "Be careful," he told her and smiled.

She smiled back and shrugged. She quipped, "Yeah, that's me, always careful." Angel held her gaze for a moment. If they had been closer, it would have been a proper moment for a kiss, but Ash broke the moment by spinning away from him. Angel smiled faintly as he drove away.

The End.


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1815