Deliverance: Dreams of terror
by Athena454
Deliverance
Dreams of terror
The young Vampire stood alone in the dimly lit cave looking around himself in pure terror. He could not believe that this was happening to him. Angel settled himself down on the cold stone floor hungrily. It had been days and days since he was able to feed. Angel knew that his hunger pains would soon become so unbearable that the need for blood would occupy his every thought.
The immortal looked himself over for what seemed like the hundredth time. He recognized the numerous lash shaped burns that covered his chest and arms. They were the result of all the daily and nightly beatings he had received at the merciless hands of a demon aristocrat he came to know as Lord Corin Turack. Angel still had no idea where he was, or how long he had been there so far. Unfortunately, he was far too afraid to ask.
Angel looked down at the iron cuffs that bound his wrists. He then glanced on the two one feet long chains that fixed to the stone wall above him. They were well out of his reach. It had all been just a dream. I miss you, Buffy. I do still love you; The Vampire thought tearfully. Angel suddenly heard the sound of approaching footsteps and started pulling frantically on his chains in a vain attempt to free himself.
The young Vampire did not want to have to endure another lashing. He was barely able to think rationally after the last one. They just happened to frequently. After struggling for several moments, Angel gave up all hope of escape and tried to keep his growing hunger at bay. The foot steps suddenly stopped. Angel looked up and found his task master standing in the cave entrance with his energy whip in one hand and the dead body of a hell beast in the other.
Turack tossed the carcass towards the east wall. He looked at his trembling slave and remarked with an evil grin, as he walked towards him. ‘Enjoy being back in your home dimension, while you can. Your happiness will not last much longer’ The evil demon raised the energy whip above his head and then allowed it to fall across Angel exposed back. The Vampires’ desperate pleas for help fell of deaf ears. Corin lashed Angel until he fell to the ground unconscious.
The Vampire awoke with a scream and found himself lying in his bed, inside his room safe. Angel looked over at his alarm clock and found that it was six o’clock in the evening. Angel hauled his body into a sitting position and started rocking back and forth. ‘Calm down, Angel. Calm yourself. It was only a nightmare. Nightmares do not mean anything. Everything’s going to be all right.”, The vampire told himself trying to catch his breath.
There was a sudden knock on his door. ‘Angel! Are you all right in there? We all herd a scream.’, A familiar voice inquired worriedly. Angel grabbed his pants off a nearby chair and replied with exaggerated cheerfulness, as he struggled into them, ‘Yeah! I am just fine, Wesley. There is nothing to worry about, really.’
The door of Angels’ room opened, and Wesley walked in with a very concerned look on his face and announced seriously. ‘Angel, I think it’s time for you and I to have a very long talk.’ Angel nodded and replied casually, “All right. What about?”
The rouge demon hunter cleared his throat and said delicately, ‘Gunn, Cordy and I have noticed that your sleeping habits have once again grown alarmingly abnormal. We’re afraid that you’re beginning to slip away from us again. I need to know where your head’s at.’
Angel stretched his arms and replied calmly, ‘It was only a nightmare.’ Wesley nodded and said in a worried tone of voice, ‘You seem to be having quite a lot of those lately. Do they have anything to do with Darla, or are you afraid that we’re going to throw you out into the street?’ ‘No. This’s something different. It’s far to painful for me to bring myself to talk about right now.’, the Vampire replied in dismay.
Wesley took a deep breath and asked wonderingly, ‘Are you afraid of being judged or condemned?’ ‘I’m afraid of losing my friends.’ , Angel replied in dismay and then added, ‘I wouldn’t be able to handle it.’ Wesley shook his head and said patiently, ‘That’s not going to happen, Angel. We’re not going to abandon you.’
At that moment, Angel suddenly felt a deep sadness welling up inside of him. The Vampire momentarily closed his eyes and concentrated on subduing the intense physical nausea that followed. Angel felt like throwing up, and Wesley just stood there watching him intently.
After a few moments of indecision, the ex-watcher sighed and remarked uneasily, ‘I’m going to go over to Caritos and bring Lorne over here, so that he can have a look at you. You may be coming down with something mystical. I want you to stay in bed until I return.’ Angel got to his feet and replied with a confidence he didn’t feel, ‘You don’t have to worry about me, Wes. I’ll be just fine.’
Wesley walked over to Angels’ bed and said adamantly, ‘Angel, I want you to lay down and get some rest.’ Angel folded her arms and said nervously, ‘I don’t want to be in here all alone.’ Wesley turned down the blankets and replied soothingly, ‘I’ll have Cordy and Gunn come up here and sit with you.’
After what seemed like an eternity, Angel let his hands drop to his sides and crawled into bed. Wesley gently covered his Vampire friend with the blankets and whispered reassuringly, ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can. Close your eyes and get some rest.’ Angel did what he was told and fell asleep within a matter of seconds.
This caused Wesley to have a brief moment of panic. He gently placed his hand on the Vampires’ forehead and was relieved to find that Angels’ condition was temporarily stable. The rouge Demon hunter got back to his feet and quietly walked out of the room closing the door behind him.
At that moment, Cordelia and Gunn were both standing at the reception desk of the lobby discussing one of their recent cases, when the sound of the opening front door suddenly caught their attention. Cordelia looked over at the newcomer and said with a welcoming smile, ‘Hey Lorne. You sure look dressed to kill. What’s up?’
‘I need to speak to Angel, cupcake. Where is he?’, Lorne replied cheerfully as he walked down the short flight of steps and strolled towards them. Cordelia was about to probe further, when Wesley declared seriously, as he walked down the stairs, ‘ Angel’s in bed resting. I was just on my way to see you. We seem to be having a major problem with Vampire friend.’
Gunn frowned and asked wonderingly, “Angel hasn’t gone dark again, has he?” Wesley shook his head and replied worriedly, “No, he hasn’t. Lorne, I’m going to need you to come up stairs with me and have a look at him. I have a feeling that Angel’s become physically ill. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, or what to do about it.
Lorne nodded and said in agreement, as he followed Wesley all the way up to the third floor, ‘Lead the way, Crumpet. The last thing we need is to see Angel keel over, when we’re right in the middle of a fight for our lives.’ Cordelia and Gunn looked at each other for a long moment and then followed their two friends into Angels’ room where they found both Wesley and Lorne helping the Vampire in question walk over to his recliner and sit down.
The Empathy Demon knelt down in front of his immortal friend and asked soothingly, ‘Can you open your eyes for me, sweety?’ The Vampire slowly opened his eyes and looked at his two friends sadly. ‘What is it, Angel? What’s the matter?’, Lorne asked bewilderedly taking the tearful Vampire into his arms.
‘What’s the matter with him?’, Cordelia asked sympathetically. ‘I don’t know, but I think his behavior has something to do with a series of nightmares he’s been having recently.’, Wesley replied seriously. ‘What were these nightmares about.’, Gunn inquired curiously. Wesley shrugged and replied casually, ‘Angel’s too afraid to tell us. He thinks we’re going to abandon him.’
‘We’d never do that to him.’, Cordelia said defensively. ‘I can sense a deep sadness inside our friend here. I have a feeling that there’s something more serious involved than just a string of nightmares.’, Lorne announced calmly and then asked as he turned back to Angel, ‘Are you having migraines when you wake up.’ Angel nodded in tearful silence.
The Empathy demon considered all the facts for a moment and then acknowledged gravely, ‘It’s just as I thought. The powers that be have been sending this Vampire warning visions in the form of dreams.’ Cordelia nodded and said in sudden understanding, ‘So what you’re saying is that now Angel’s just like me.’
Lorne smiled and replied cheerfully, ‘Well he’s not exactly like you, sweet pea. The only way that Angel can receive his visions is when he’s asleep. We need to help him get use to his new power, because the pain of these migraines could easily drive Angel out of his mind.’
Cordelia cleared her throat and said thoughtfully, ‘I think that I’m the best candidate for that job.’ Wesley looked up at the seer and asked hopefully, ‘Are you sure that you can handle it?’ Cordelia nodded and replied with a confident smile, ‘I know what he’s going through. I may be the only one who understands the kind of pain he’s in.’
The young woman knelt down in front of her vampire friend and said with a winning smile, ‘Don’t worry, Angel. We’ll get through this together.’ Angel gently pulled himself out of Lornes’ grip and nodded tearfully. Wesley took a deep breath and uttered seriously, ‘Angel, we need to know what you saw, so we can be ready for it.’
The Vampire wiped the tears out of his eyes and replied sadly, ‘There was darkness all around me. The air around was very cold. I thought I was all alone, when a swirling whirlpool of light just appeared in front of me out of nowhere. Evil beings are on their way, and they won’t stop until we’re all hunted down and taken back to their overlord. I don’t want to go back, you guys. Please don’t let them take me back.’
Gunn took a few steps back and announced in confusion, ‘I’m not sure about you three, but I don’t know what in the hell Angel’s talking about.’ Wesley shrugged his shoulders. Cordelia suddenly caught her breath and replied in sudden under standing, ‘Oh my God. I think I do.’ The young seer took Angels’ trembling left hand in hers and asked cautiously, ‘This’s about that hell dimension Buffy had sent you to, isn’t it?’
Angel nodded his head, as his eyes re-filled with tears of sadness and then pleaded mournfully, ‘I don’t want to go back, Cordy. Please don’t let them take me.’ Cordelia took Angels’ shaking body into her arms and said reassuringly, ‘You have nothing to worry about, Angel. We’re not going to let those evil creatures take you away from us. We’re all going to protect you.’
Lorne smiled and declared cheerfully, ‘I don’t know about you three, but it looks like our boy here needs a drink. I sure know that I do.’ Gunn nodded and replied in agreement, ‘Lorne’s right. I think that we all need to get out of here for a while.’ Wesley smiled and said modestly, ‘Let’s all go to Lornes’ club for a while and have some fun. We all look like we need to unwind and recharge."







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