House of the Fallen Angel's: The Amulet
by Mooncalf
Disclaimer: Buffy The Vampire Slayer and related characters are owned by Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy. I can only take credit for the new main characters I have created and various other vampire minions which may wander into my stories. I created them, so they are mine. Don't sue as this is just pure fanfic.

*****Chapter Three – The Amulet*****

Willow entered the museum front door and beckoned for the others to follow her through. Just as Eve, Eli, Angel and Giles came in they saw the light of a torch and heard someone whistling. Angel nodded towards a dark corridor as the figure of a security guard came closer. He didn’t seem to notice them, so they all ducked behind the information desk and waited for him to pass. Angel was the first to step out from behind the desk. He thought, so he gave the security guard a hard shove from behind, sending him tumbling head first into a wall and knocking him out cold.

Everyone else came out from behind the desk; Willow gave Angel a ‘That wasn’t necessary.’ look.

‘What? I had to. He’s not dead, just unconscious.’

Willow nodded then turned to lead the way. As they entered the mythology section Giles flicked a nearby light switch, illuminating every case and display unit, and they began to search.

‘So, you all know what you’re looking for?’ asked Giles.

‘Yes.’ Came the unanimous reply.

After a few moments of searching Angel beckoned them over to him. ‘I think I’ve found it.’ He said. They ran to him as he smashed his elbow through the front of a glass case. Eli reached inside and grabbed the amulet eagerly.

‘This is it, thirty years and its still all shiny.’

‘Lets go.’ Said Willow, wary of her surroundings. ‘Giles you carry it.’

They ran from the museum and out into the streets, sprinting in the direction of Sunnydale High. Willow stopped for a moment and gasped for breath. Someone’s hands grabbed her from behind, and she screamed in fear.

‘Willow!’ yelled Angel. ‘Let her go!’ he shouted as he noticed the vampire who held her tightly round the waist. He charged at the vampire, knocking Willow from his grasp, he dragged Willow to her feet and started to run. After making only a few steps they noticed several other vampires arriving, seven in all, they were surrounded.

‘Great, where’s Buffy when you need her?’ said Willow as the vampires formed a circle around them.

‘Oh dear, this is quite a disagreeable situation.’ Said Giles, he clutched the amulet tightly, guessing that the vampires would steal it. He stepped over to Willow and pulled her from Angel’s grasp. He held on to her tightly and she surveyed the vampires that encircled them.

‘Get ready to run.’ Said Angel through gritted teeth. He, Eve and Eli surrounded the frightened Willow and Giles. They put on their game faces and growled at their foes.

‘No slayer this evening?’ snorted one of the vampires; he was in his twenties, give or take a few hundred years.

‘We don’t need her to fight you.’ Angel retorted angrily.

‘We’ll see!’ barked another of the vampires, a woman this time; she seemed to be older than the first one.

‘RUN!’ yelled Angel as he threw himself at the two vampires who had spoken. Giles and Willow started to run, Giles gripping the amulet tightly. Eve and Eli ran with them, pushing away any attacking vampires. Angel broke free of the two vampires and sprinted after them. Six of the seven vampires gave chase, whilst the seventh returned to the safety of the sewers via a manhole cover in the road.

**********

Inside the library Buffy was reading about the amulet whilst Esme was lying on her back in the cage, suddenly Cordelia rushed in yelling. ‘Buffy! They’re coming! And they’re being chased by a whole bunch of vampires!’

‘I’m coming.’ She leapt out of her seat and ran to the door. Esme jumped to her feet in the cage and said
‘What about me? I can help.’

‘Okay, Okay!’ Buffy said, yanking the cage door from its hinges, having no time to play with the lock.

All three of them ran outside the library, they met Xander and Oz at the front entrance, Xander and Cordelia dragged Willow and Giles to safety through the open doors. Oz held on to Willow to protect her. Outside Buffy, Angel, Esme, Eve and Eli went into battle with the six vampires. Suddenly Giles remembered the amulet.

‘Esmerelda!’ he called foolishly running outside. ‘The amulet!’ He was viciously thrown backwards onto the ground by one of the vampires before he was able to reach her. Oz, seeing Giles’ helplessness, leapt from the front steps, across Giles and straight onto the vampire, knocking the surprised demon to the floor. Giles scrambled to his knees and threw the amulet towards Esme, calling out her name. She caught it in mid-air and placed it round her neck, she breathed a sigh of relief just as one of the vampires lunged at her. She stepped to one side and the vampire landed on a fence post, staking himself through the heart. She smiled to herself. She thought.

‘Cordelia! Stakes!’ yelled Buffy. Cordelia threw a bag of stakes out of the door as a startled Giles crawled inside, followed by Oz. Buffy grabbed the bag and pulled out two stakes. A vampire pulled one from her hands as another vampire attacked her from the left. The first vampire held the stake as a weapon, aiming it at her. She threw the attacking vampire against the one who had stolen her stake, as the first vampire exploded in a cloud of ash, the second just had time to stare at his hand in disbelief before Buffy staked him too. She dropped to her knees and rolled across the floor to grab another stake. She glanced towards the door and saw a vampire heading towards the steps; she threw the stake at the vamp and hit her target. Smiling to herself, satisfied with her skill, she turned to see how the others were doing. Angel and Eli were wrestling with a large and very muscular vampire; they struggled to hold onto him.

‘Do you think we could get some help over here!’ Angel yelled as the vampire lifted him off of the ground with a strong arm, Angel refused to let go. He twisted both his legs around the vampire’s robust thigh, and pulled on the arm with all his strength. He thought.

‘Buffy!’ He called again. Buffy ran and pulled another stake from the bag and threw it at the vampires chest. As the stake flew through the air Angel and Eli struggled to keep the vampires arms spread widely apart. As the stake hit home the vampire exploded in a cloud of ash, Angel and Eli fell to the floor, relieved that the struggle was over.

It wasn’t over yet, the last vampire tapped Buffy on the shoulder, she turned around to see his game face grinning back at her. She punched his jaw in disgust, wiping his smile away in a second. Angry the vampire grabbed her. The two of them wrestled, in the struggle the bag of stakes was kicked towards Esme. Angel and Eli headed up the steps, followed by Eve. The vampire won the wrestling match and threw Buffy to the floor at the foot of the steps.

He pulled a knife from his belt and stood over Buffy, she stared up at him, sensing her fate. Just as the shining metal came down upon her she felt two hands grab her upper arms and pull her roughly up the steps.

The metal of the knife crashed down against the concrete path. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief and looked behind her to see who had rescued her, Eve held her arms tightly. The vampire drew himself up to his full height and stared at Buffy lying halfway up the steps, he raised the knife once more. As he took a step forward his facial expression changed to one of pain, suddenly he exploded in a cloud of ash. The knife dropped to the floor with a metallic clang and as the ash cleared Esme could be seen standing behind where the vampire had been.

‘I told you I could help.’ She said and smiled. The look on her face was completely different to how she’d been in the library…where quite frankly she’d looked like a mess. But now everything seemed back to “normal”, her hair was reasonably styled and here eyes were a bright golden-brown, with no trace of the wolf at all. And she was smiling…not maliciously or sarcastically, just happily.

Buffy stared at her in shocked silence, then breaking free of Eve’s grasp she scrambled to her feet; she opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind. She couldn’t believe that Esme had just saved her life, especially after the way she had acted in the library before. As hard as she tried, it seemed to Buffy that she would never be able to hate Esme…and she’d probably never understand her either.

***********

‘How did they know where we’d be tonight? They must know what we were up to.’ Said Buffy as they walked in through the library doors.

‘They don’t know, as yet, but it won’t take them long to find out.’ Said Giles.

‘Okay, so, let me put everything in perspective.’ Said Xander. ‘We now have with us a werewolf/vampire crossbreed, plus a witch and a warlock who also happen to be vamps. We just risked our lives to help save them, and now we are wondering why the other guys came along, isn’t it obvious why. They know who these guys are and they’re after them.’

Everyone just stared at him.

‘And I’m guessing that everybody is okay with this? Hey, did I miss something here?’ he said.

‘Look, we’ll get it all sorted out in the morning okay? After a night of slaying, I’m a little tired.’ Buffy yawned loudly to prove her point. ‘My mums out of town this week, a gallery thing somewhere, I think we should all just crash at my place tonight. Oz, when’s the next full moon?’

‘Thursday.’

‘It’s Saturday tomorrow, we’ll talk then.’

‘How are we gonna get there? I mean, if they come after us again we’re toast right?’ said Willow.

‘We could take my van.’ Said Oz.

‘Yeah, and any extra’s can come with me in my new car.’ Added Cordelia helpfully, and a little proudly.

‘Hello? Isn’t that a convertible, with a thin, thin, very thin hood?’ said Xander sceptically.

‘Okay okay.’ Said Buffy, holding her hands up, commanding silence. ‘Cordelia can drive Xander, Giles and me in her convertible, I won’t let anything get into the hood. Oz can drive everyone else in his van, okay?’

‘Yeah.’ Said Willow.

‘I guess so.’ Said Xander.

***********

Back at Buffy’s house everyone was asleep upstairs except Angel who was keeping watch outside and Buffy and Esme who sat quietly in the lounge. Buffy knew that this was the perfect opportunity to ask Esme more about Angel, and more about her past. She decided to break the silence.

‘Look, thanks for saving my life back there, I mean you didn’t have to…but you did, and I’m really grateful, thanks.’

‘That’s okay.’ There was another awkward silence; then Esme spoke again. ‘Buffy, In my life I’ve met a few slayers and I’ve seen them die…usually via Spike, and I could smell fear on each and every one of them. When I said that about you tonight, I was just being, well, me. But, when you were fighting those vampires, there was no fear, you were just protecting your friends. You were protecting us when you didn’t have to, so I should really thank you.’

‘After meeting Angel I have a new policy. To only kill vampires that are really, really evil, or ones that I don’t like.’

‘Yeah, Angel has a way of changing people.’ She sounded resentful; then she bit her lip and looked ashamed.

‘It’s okay, I don’t mind what you say about him. I know what he was…what he is.’ She was silent for a moment and then brightened slightly as she thought of ways to begin the conversation. ‘I have a question, how old are you?’

‘My mother always taught me it was rude to ask a lady her age.’ Esme rolled her eyes and smiled. ‘Well, in human terms I’m only eighteen, but with vampire time added I’m probably more like 234 years old.’

‘What about Evelyn and Elijah?’

Esme pulled a face as she added things up. ‘Well, Evelyn is 28 or 244 and Elijah is erm…26 or 242, they’re all older than me.’

‘Do you ever wish you weren’t a vampire?’

‘Everyday of my life…my unlife I mean But I’m stuck with it, I guess you could say it’s in my blood’ A smile traced across her lips briefly, and faded when she continued. ‘It was meant to be.’

‘Like I’m meant to be a slayer, and Giles is a watcher.’ Buffy continued in a distant voice. ‘Do you think everyone was born to be something?’

‘Everyone is born as something, and most people die as that same something…but your different.’

‘Me, why?’

‘A slayer is born every time a slayer dies; it’s a life circle, no beginning, no end…it just exists. Immortality Buffy, that’s what you have in a strange sort of a way.’ There was another awkward, yet thoughtful silence.

‘You know, I think I’m gonna get some sleep, like I said before, I’m really tired. Good night.’

‘Goodnight…oh, and Buffy?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Thanks again, for everything.’

‘Sure.’ She replied, as she disappeared up the stairs. Then Angel wandered into the lounge and sat down next to Esme on the sofa.

‘You know what?’ she said ‘I’ve never met a slayer like Buffy, she’s different somehow.’ She looked into his eyes, searching for something familiar; he looked away and stared down at his feet.

‘I know.’ He said quietly. Esme placed her hand gently on his and squeezed it; he entwined his fingers with hers.

Outside the night air was still, as if the world was waiting for something to happen. The people of Sunnydale innocently slept on, most of them had no fear as they dreamt. Only Buffy, stretched across her mothers bed, thought about her life, Esme’s life…Angel’s life. And how they all fit together, if they fit at all.


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