Downstairs, Angel walked into the kitchen-area to see Ghost shoveling pasta into her mouth- he had been keeping food around ever since Cordelia and Wesley had been working longer hours. Angel just hoped Ghost hadn’t seen anything inside the fridge; containers of blood might have freaked her out even more than she already was. Wesley looked a little relieved to see Angel, which didn’t really surprise the vampire.
Ghost glanced up at Angel, and swallowed her mouthful of food. “So what were you doing in that store? I find it hard to believe it was a coincidence- you came prepared.” She shot a glance at Wesley, then at one of the bookshelves.
Angel thought if he should conceal anything to her; probably not, except for him being a vampire. That could come later. “Me, Wesley, and Cordy are- I guess detectives. Cordelia sometimes has visions that lead us to people in trouble, such as yourself.”
Ghost ate the last bit of food on her plate, got up, and set the dishes on the counter. “How interesting,” she said. “What time is it? Where am I sleeping?”
Angel studied her for a moment, but Wesley answered her first question. “It’s nearly ten, not really that late compared to our usual hours.”
“But, I can understand why you’re tired,” Angel added. “Follow me, I’ll show you your room.” What Angel really wanted was to talk to her alone; Wesley might make some unneeded comment about his destroyed book, which wouldn’t be good. Besides, he probably didn’t notice.
Leading the girl up the stairs, Angel turned into the room across from his. He flicked on the overhead light, but one of the two bulbs was burned out, so it was very dim.
“Sorry about the light,” He said, “I’ll fix it tomorrow.”
“No, dark is good. I like it that way.” Ghost stood by the bed, wondering why he wasn’t leaving.
“I need- to talk to you.” Angel shut the door and indicated she sit. She rolled her eyes, but obeyed, and Angel sat down as well, next to her. “Ghost... I can tell.” She stared blankly at him. Almost. Her expression was not completely empty; it was still there, that hint of anger and fear in her eyes. “I can tell how scared you are. You hide it well, but I can see it.” She continued to stare at him. Angel cleared his throat and looked away from her, slightly embarrased, why he didn’t know. “I know I said it earlier, but I’ll say it again: I know you have no reason to trust me. But there’s really no reason to be afraid, I swear to you.” He waited, to see what she would say, if anything.
As a matter of fact, Ghost did have something to say. “Angel. There is no way in hell I am ever going to trust you. You know why?” She paused, probably for dramatic effect. “Because your a bloody vampire, that’s why!”
Angel turned to face Ghost once more, surprised. His mouth hung open slightly. “You- you know?” He asked. “How...?”
“The way you act. Your scent. The way you notice small things. Your lack of a reflection. The blood in the fridge. Do you think I’m stupid?” Ghost did not actually intend her question to be answered, but Angel replied to it anyway.
“No, I don’t think you’re stupid- I think you’ve been hurt, badly, in the past. And I may be a vampire, but I have a soul.” He was actually quite impressed at her intelligence; not many people, even mages, would’ve been able to tell he was a vampire. “If I didn’t have a soul, do you really think Wesley and Cordelia, and yourself, would still be alive?”
“The most malicious evil doesn’t kill,” she replied. “Now please leave, I’d like to get some sleep.”
Angel gazed at Ghost with pity in his eyes, guessing what she might’ve meant by that first comment. The girl winced under his gaze, looking away. Sighing, Angel got up and left the room, closing the door quietly.
The next morning, at about seven, Cordy came in. She had quenched most of her anger by going shopping, and wore a new pair of jeans and a jacket. She swung open the door, and stopped as she saw Ghost sitting in a chair, crunching on a bowl of cereal. She glanced up at Cordy, who was unnerved by her navy eyes- she had just notice their color.
“Hi,” Cordelia said, feeling kind of bad about all the yelling she had done the day before. After all, the girl was just sitting there, docile.
“Hi,” Ghost replied, in an almost mocking tone- she was not expecting this ‘Cordelia’ to treat her with any respect.
“Um, I’d- I’d like to apologize for yesterday. I don’t want you to dislike me.” Cordy looked down, and was immedietly ashamed of herself for feeling embarrased in front of this girl. “I had a bit of a headache from the vision, and, um, I thought you were, y’know, really dangerous...” Her voice trailed off as Ghost set her bowl down and crossed her arms, glaring.
“I am really dangerous,” She replied. “And I don’t hate you any more than those other two, though you are quite annoying.” Cordy make a protesting noise, and Ghost smirked. “Wesley’s introduction, the spell, hurt a lot. Angel is a vampire, of all things, and too smart for his own good.”
“He told you he was a vampire? That kinda contradicts with him being too smart...”
“I am also too smart for his good.” Ghost got up, picking up her bowl and dumping it by the fridge, apparantly pleased by her pun.
Angel walked down the stairs, coming into Cordy’s view. “Cordy! You’re back, good. Has Wesley come in yet?”
Cordelia shrugged. “I don’t know, I just came in to get insulted by little miss Ghost. How did she find out you were a vampire? She says you didn’t tell her, but I dunno...”
“Cordy, I did not tell her. She figured it out. Where is she, anyway?” Glancing around, Angel called out Ghost’s name.
“What?” Ghost walked back into the main room, but stopped short, her eyes growing wide. She dropped to the floor as a whistling noise passed over Angel’s head, and a huge shape, round, whizzed through the spot where Ghost's head had been, crashing straight through the wall behind her. Angel spun around, cursing himself for not sensing anything, and saw a large, lizard-like creature perched on the railing of the second floor. Its scaly skin was deep blue, and crooked bat-wings protruded from its back. It’s head resembled a wolf’s, but with larger eyes, and no ears. Clawed feet gripped the railing tightly, and as it sprung up it ripped away a section of the wood, swooping towards Ghost.
Ghost outstretched a hand, obviously to work a spell, but no wind came; nothing responded to her. Confused, she was absorbed in trying to do something, anything, and didn’t notice the beast until its claws dug into her arm, lifting her temporarily into the air, then dropping her into Cordelia. Both of them groaned, Ghost because her arm had deep gashes on it, and Cordy because she had hit her head hard on the floor.
Angel had by now grabbed a sword from their weapons case, and ran up behind the creature. He struck at its hind legs, but the thing spun around and flew upward, out of his reach. It hovered by the roof for a moment, evaluating its opponent, then opened its mouth and spit out a huge ball- like the thing that had nearly hit Ghost earlier. Angel didn’t have time to move out of the way; he was hit in the stomach, hard, and discovered that it was metal. He felt a rib snap as he was flung into the wall, paralyzed for a moment as he watched it go back towards Ghost.
Ghost was leaning against a chair, holding her arm, and Cordelia had gotten up and was walking in circles, holding her head. Ghost looked up as the creature screeched, its jaws open, speeding towards her. Once again she tried to work her magic, but before she could even start it grabbed her arm again and pulled her up towards the second floor. Yelling, Ghost reached up with her other arm and just managed to grab the tip of the creature’s wing. It flapped, trying to shake her off, but careened downward, bashing Ghost into the floor and landing on top of her.
Angel recovered, lurching to his feet and grabbing his sword. With his free hand, he grabbed the lizard beast by its wing and pulled it off Ghost, flinging it into the wall. While it was still stunned, he swung his sword at its neck, cutting it cleanly off. He wrinkled his face as thick, sickly-green colored blood splattered over his shirt and neck.
Heavy breathing behind him reminded Angel of what the beast had been attacking. He turned and rushed back to Ghost, lifting her into a sitting position. She didn’t even bother to glare at him, instead hissing as she gingerly touched her arm.
“I’ll get something to bandage that,” Angel told her, standing up to go get a rag and the bandages, but stopping as the front door swung open and Wesley walked into the room. He looked around at the room, his eyes stopping breifly on Ghost, and the remains of the demon.
“Raiksesh demon. Must’ve been going for Ghost; they’re notorious for killing witches, because they can draw the power out of a dead body. Naturally, witches would be a more succulent feast for them.”
“Yeah, well I’m temporarily out,” Ghost snapped. “Of magick. So it shouldn’t have been attacking me.”
“You still have the aura of a witch, and that’s all the demon can sense.” Wesley looked pityingly at Ghost’s arm.
“Wesley, can you sit Cordy down and help Ghost?” Cordelia was still stumbling around in circles. “I’ll clean this up- I’m already dirty.” Angel shuffled over to the creature, and picking up its head, began dragging its body towards the basement stairs. Perhaps it would burn up in the fernace.
Wesley grabbed Cordy’s shoulders and pushed her into the nearest chair; she glanced up at him, then curled up and fell asleep. Shaking his head, Wesley trotted into the other room to get the bandages and a wet cloth, then returned to Ghost. She winced as he gently wiped some of the blood off her arm, trying not to let it soak into the tattered remains of her sleeve.
“Is the demon connected to me losing my power, do you think?” Wesley looked startled; Ghost was actually asking him a question in a decent manner. Hopefully it would last.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “Sometimes, magick-users who go overboard on their power- use it too much in harmful ways, without being able to control it- lose their ability temporarily. You should be back to normal in a week at the latest, but...” He paused.
“But that’s not necessarily a good thing.” Ghost finished his sentence. They locked eyes for a moment, but Ghost looked away quickly. “I’m not a typical brainless juvenile. Though I sometimes am a delinquent.” Wesley chuckled at her last comment, not suspecting that it was said only to distract him from anything he might have seen- and didn’t- in her eyes.
“Are you saying that you will submit to our offer of helping you?” Ghost looked at him oddly, but Wesley’s voice was serious.
“Yeah, I... guess.” Ghost felt glad Cordy wasn’t awake; she probably would have cracked some dry, tasteless joke.
“Angel will be pleased to hear that,” Wesley said absently as he wrapped the bandage around the girl’s arm.
“Ouch!” Ghost pulled away as Wesley rubbed the cloth over a deep cut. He apologized and gently rewrapped the cloth. Ghost opened her mouth to try to say something, but the words didn’t come out. Wesley noticed, and after he finished tying the cloth, he looked expectantly at her.
“Well.... Um...” She started, then paused, looking down. “When I get my magick back, d’you think that maybe...”
“Yes?”
“You could help me try and control it? ‘Cause, you seem pretty good with spells and things...”
Angel, who had been standing behind the door to the basement for a few minutes, grinned. They were getting somewhere; he was really almost glad that the demon had attacked. Ghost was beginning to trust them. His smile stayed as he heard Wesley’s voice again.
“Of course I will, though it’s not really my area of expertise. I’m called ‘book-man’ by my friends. But seeing as how there’s no one else... yes, I will try my best.”
“As will we all,” Angel added, stepping out from the door. “I overheard the last bit of your conversation.” He smiled a Ghost, perhaps a bit to smugly, for she scowled at him and got to her feet.
“Is there a shower here somewhere? And does Cordy have extra clothes?” Ghost looked down at her blood-spattered shirt.
“Don’t take the pink shirt,” Cordelia mutterered from her spot. “They’re in a bag by the computer.”
“Wouldn’t dream of wearing anything pink,” Ghost told her. She limped over to peer behind the counter the computer sat on, and grabbed the cloth bag she found. “I feel terrible enough without having to be humiliated.
“Hey!” Cordy gasped feebily. Angel went over to her, looking back at Ghost.
“The shower’s the third door on your left upstairs. Please don’t open the window- I use it too.”
“Right, vampire,” she said, and Angel was glad to notice that the hate was no longer in her voice when she said the v-word. “No problem.”
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