Blood Brothers: Part Two
by Darla
Part Two

As the darkness set, Angel looked quickly around his new home, selecting a specific object to view and removing it from its place on the dusty shelf. Looking through the colume rapidly, he chose the information he needed, closed the cook, and, grabbing his coat from teh rack, slipped out of the door and into the night.

Angel liked the calm of the darkness, how no one was about, and one was free to do as they chose, but there was not time to lurk about in the dark. He needed to get to the library at Sunnydale High, where Buffy and her friends were up late again investigating a string of violent murders that had struck recently in Sunnydale. A vampire, or several, they were sure of, but this was no newborn's work. An aged vampire had made these killings, and Angel had seent he work before. He hadn't mentioned it, only mumbled a quick, "I'll be right back," and slipping out of the library to return home for the book.

Upon reaching the library, Angel rushed quickly over to Buffy and handed her the book. It was an older volume, one he hadn't touched from his collection in decades. It's cover was a deep charcoal black, bound tightly, it's thin pages worn from age. The work was entitled "Path of Lucifer, The Unnamed Vampire." She stared at the old pages in her hands, then looked up to Angel.

"Angel," she said, her voice thin, "What's this?"

Clearing his throat, he answered, "It's a book. I think I may have your killer."

She turned through the first few pages and looked up again. "Lucifer?" she said, eying him questioningly.

"Yes," Angel said. She must have sensed the bitterness and utter loathing in his voice. But he didn't want to talk about it. She knew that too.

Then he showed her the pages needed to confirm his hazy suspicions, and she studied them carefully, reading the bold, handwritten scrawl that a monk from the old ages had once written by the quiet light of a candle.

She began to read out loud from the giant book as Angel, her watcher, and the rest of her friends crowded around to look.

"It is he, the unnamed one, who stalks our valleys, in search for fresh blood. It is he who we call the evil one, the darkness, and should he rise, we shall run in terror, and the pain shed on the earth will be that of inhumanly nature. With this volume know the depth of the ancient curse, the one we call The Devil, Lord Lucifer of the netherworld."

Giles showed a spark of recognition in his deep eyes, and his brow furrowed into a tight svowl as he struggled to recall where he had before heard those grave words.

"Giles?" Buffy asked, "Do you have something to share with the class?"

"Well, eh, yes," he replied in his thick British accent, "I believe I've heard those words before. As if I know them from a dream."

"Lucifer is the basis of all nightmares," Angel said thoughtfully to all of them.

"Wait a minute here," piped up Xander, Buffy's impudent friend, "Some messed up parents from the sixteen hundreds decided one day to name their son after the devil? Satan?"

"No Xander," Angel replied quietly, "Satan was named after him."


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=6389