"... than hear you sing": Part 4
by Mediancat
Here's the disclaimer. Enjoy!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Part Four

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel was walking through the streets of Sunnydale and thinking. It had been under two weeks since Buffy had saved his life . . . since his encounter with the First.

How was he going to make amends, as Buffy had suggested? Obviously what he'd been doing before . . . before his demon had taken control hadn't nearly been enough. Cryptic boy was just doing bits and pieces. But what else was he to do? Despite the number of times he'd aided Buffy in combat, he really wasn't anything more than a competent fighter; even with his powers, he was no superhero.

He was just looking at the scenery. It was amazing sometimes how peaceful Sunnydale could look at night, considering the number of inhabitants with every intent of NOT keeping it that way. Much as he tried to convince himself that he wasn't drifting back towards the high school, towards the old, predictable pattern of his existence, towards . . . Buffy, he knew the truth without ever needing to say it.

Besides, Angel was largely a creature of habit.

He passed by a recent construction site on the spot of Sunnydale High's old science building. It was nice to see them finally making use of the place.

Headlights approached Angel as he walked along the road away from the entrance to the school. At first he barely paid the approaching car any attention . . . then he noticed it was veering awfully close to the sidewalk. Fascinated, repelled, he watched as it roared towards him, over the curb and into the low stone wall at the front of the school. He threw himself into the street as it skidded to a halt not five feet from where he was standing.

Getting up, he dusted himself off -- of course he was unhurt -- and ran over to see what had happened, and to help. "Is everybody okay . . ." he trailed off, noticing that something wasn't happening.

The car's inhabitants were NOT screaming and trying to escape. They were just sitting there. For half a second Angel feared the rost, but then he heard their slow, easy breathing. They were asleep!

How was that possible? Didn't matter. He reached in through the doors and grabbed the cellular phone, and dialed 911. After thirty seconds, there still was no answer. Just as Angel was about to try calling someone else . . . the car's inhabitants moved.

And they were still asleep. Though the man's right arm dangled, and the woman was bleeding from a nose that looked like it belonged on a hockey player, they forced their way out of the car and walked off in a line leading around a nearby tree somewhere behind the high school's main building.

From behind him, he heard a slight noise. Then another sleepwalker strode past him and walked off in the same direction as the couple. And it seemed like more and more were approaching.

Then Angel saw someone who was still awake . . . but stiffened when he got a good look at the face and recognized him as another vampire, about to try and grab a meal from one of the helpless somnambulists. "What Trick doesn't know . . ." the demon said.

It was a short fight. Angel grabbed the other vampire and threw him into the car, then reached behind him and broke a branch off the tree. The rookie was predictable and charged right into the stake. Angel brushed off the dust and thought.

Everyone's fallen asleep and is going somewhere . . . Buffy! Closest to the library, so check there first. He sprinted through the halls of the school and flung open the doors.

Just as their former presence in the room was beginning to register on him, Xander stood up from behind the counter and almost gave him a heart attack.


* * *
Xander struggled to suppress a yawn. He hadn't been lying, exactly, but the stomach flu did take an awful lot out of him.

Willow and Oz, despite the three bottles of Jolt they'd consumed each, were almost as bad off as he was. Buffy, being the Slayer, just looked a little tired, and Giles --

"Hey, G-Man," he muttered. "You keep on the way you're going you're going to have more tea in your veins than blood."

"I realize that," the Watcher snapped irritably, and then began to apologize. Xander had heard a dozen sorries already in the last hour and a half, from Giles, Willow, and Oz, but he'd long ago figured out that it had nothing to do with him. Besides, he still owed Will and the wolf so many apologies for what he'd done to their relationship . . . if he felt better, he would have been antsy around them, but right now he didn't have the energy to spare for that.

"No biggie at all. Really." And he meant it. Really.

The progress had been mixed. Willow had caught on right away that the djinn Almaghestos wasn't who they were looking for . . . it wasn't the right time of year, he liked to be active only in the summer. Now there was a spirit with the right attitude. Buffy got Giles to agree that Yazusi, a Japanese sleep demon, wasn't very likely, because even though he had the power to control others while asleep -- and was actually known as the Dreamsinger -- he hadn't been seen outside Japan in over a thousand years. Finally, Giles had crossed two of the names off the list without bothering to explain why, and given his sour mood Xander wasn't about to ask him.

So Willow and Oz were intently studying Ghoti, Buffy and Giles were ganging up on some Native American spirit called the Raven of Night, and Xander was still reading about Hypnos. The happy couple was pointing things out and whispering, while the Slayer-Watcher combo was doing their own thing quietly.

He hoped like hell that Hypnos wasn't the bad guy they were facing, because he was one powerful SOB for someone who hadn't even woken up to take a crap in the last 2300 years. Hypnos got his jollies by controlling others as they slept, and speaking through them; in Rome in the 1700's he'd led one leading citizen of the city after another to walk off bridges in their sleep. A demon hunter, name of Vincienzo del Negro -- hey, like the b-ball star! -- had driven him out of town. How, wasn't clear, dammit. He felt it probably was Hypnos they were going up against, he just wished he had the confidence to say so for sure.

Willow and Oz stopped talking.

The book he was reading was nothing BUT the exploits and legends of Hypnos, and thank god it was written in modern English or he would have dropped off a long time ago.

Hold on . . . what was this? "Giles, Buffy, everyone . . . come over and take a look at this."

No one answered. Xander looked up and said, "Hey . . ." and then stopped in shock.

Everyone had fallen asleep over the books. He chuckled hollowly and said, "C'mon, guys, not funny . . .'" But no one was laughing.

Slowly, he stood up and shook Giles, who was closest to him. Nothing. Then he walked over to Buffy and, hesitantly, dumped a can of soda over her head. Normally this would have gotten him slapped and yelled at -- but it didn't work. Buffy just lay there, snoring away, with Diet Mountain Dew dribbling down her face onto the table.

As frantic and energized as he could be with a virus in his stomach, he passed the next five minutes doing everything short of lighting a fire under their feet to get them to wake up. Nothing.

Then, suddenly, they all stood upright. Just as Xander was about to breathe a sigh of relief . . . he noticed they were still asleep. In unison -- in PERFECT unison -- they all started walking to the door. Helplessly, he tried to stop them, but Buffy just shoved him to one side -- he tumbled back behind the counter -- and kept going.

But just as he thought things couldn't get any worse . . . he heard voices coming into the room, laughing and hoarsely cheerful. An inner voice told him not to stand up or call out; he peered around the corner . . . and saw four vampires just standing there. A black one wearing a gray suit punched some numbers into a cellular phone and said, jovially, "Mr. Mayor? Trick here. Yeah she's under. Got the Watcher and a couple of her friends too. Naah, the dork and the bitch ain't here, but word on the street is, he's too sick to do anything and she's not down with them anymore." A pause. "Means she's not their friend. Anyway, I'll be sure to keep these four safe and sound on the way over." An audible click. "Okay, boys, you heard the man. Much as I'd like to get rid of some of our troubles right now, I'm afraid it's just not in the cards. So let's just lay low . . . at the end of the night hizzoner's promised us all a couple of nice, juicy children, our choice. So, chop-chop, people!"

Xander waited until he couldn't hear anything, counted to fifty, then to fifty again, and stood up and looked over the counter.

And nearly had a heart attack when he saw Angel standing there.


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=2005