Disclaimer: Joss owns all. I merely borrow for my own amusement.
Chapter 32
A sound from the dark corner of the deserted building had Buffy scrambling out of sight. Blood matted her blonde hair and covered her face, mixing with the dirt and dust. The cuts on her arms and torso were oozing the thick red liquid, calling out to any predator who knew what it was.
Slayer blood was a powerful thing, she knew. The demons were attracted to it, vampires craved it, and it was the only thing that had kept the Slayer alive thus far. Only god knew how much longer it would continue to do so. At the rate she was losing it, not long.
The sound came again and she timidly peeked around the corner of the crates. Oh my god.
Buffy shot up straight in bed, breathing heavily, covered in a cold sweat. Oh, God! Not that dream again. Why was this happening to her? It had been months since she’d had that particular dream.
She threw back the covers and forced her lithe frame out of bed. After stretching her body to get rid of any kinks, she left her room and went to fetch herself a glass of water. Coffee would have been preferable but after one too many lectures from Giles on how unhealthy it was to have caffeine before going to sleep, she instinctively shied away from the stuff.
The light flickered on in the kitchen and Buffy squinted against the sudden bright light. Maybe this hadn’t been one of her brighter ideas. Pulling a glass from the rack on the counter, she took it to the sink to fill it. As she moved the glass under the tap, she noticed her hand shaking uncontrollably.
She stared at the trembling limb in fascination. Looking to her other hand, she noticed it shaking too. After a moment of gazing at them uncomprehendingly, she sank to the floor of the tiled kitchen.
Pulling her legs up, she wrapped her hands around her knees and rested her head against them. It really sucked. Having the whole world on your shoulders could really bring a person down. That dream.
It wasn’t any clearer, now, than it had been before. Who did she see? What happened to Sunnydale in the first place? Where was everyone? Surely the others, the self-proclaimed Slayerettes, wouldn’t desert her. How many times she’d thought this since she’d first had the dream, she couldn’t count. Yet it all remained a mystery to her. She had her suspicions, of course.
She didn’t know how long she remained seated on the floor but as the cold from the tile saturated her skin, she decided it was time to make a move. Rising to her feet, she remembered her original reason for coming to the kitchen. Without looking, she reached over and picked up her forgotten glass.
Holding it under the tap, she filled it then brought it to her lips. Only by chance did she happen to look down as the glass in her hand. She screamed and jumped back, flinging the glass away from herself. It smashed against the wall, shards of glass flying in all directions.
Buffy, eyes wide in horror, watched the as the red liquid slowly slithered its way down the wall, glomming at the point where wall met floor. Buffy touched her lips gently, her gaze still trained on the life-force trailing down the kitchen’s white tiles.
Blood.
“Giles!”
********************************
Three hours later and Buffy was still shaking. Not many things unnerved her. It reminded her of that demon in the alley when she’d first come to Sunnydale. She’d thought she was over being scared, thought she’d hardened but obviously she hadn’t. Yeah, you try almost drinking a glass of blood and tell me how you feel.
‘I’m still a little in the haze over here,’ Xander remarked as he munched on a Twinkie. Watching the snack being decimated by Xander’s gaping maw sickened Buffy almost as much as the blood had.
‘And what would be new there,’ Giles stated impatiently. ‘Moving on, you didn’t find anything?’ he asked the two silent girls.
Buffy gaped at Giles with admiration. ‘Go Giles,’ she acknowledged with admiration of the hit.
Xander sat silently, also staring at the Watcher, only in shock instead of the regard for the Watcher Willow and Buffy had in their eyes.
Giles, however, just ignored them and instead pulled out another book. Buffy smiled, before she too, returned to the research. No matter what the situation, they always managed to make her feel better.
‘We’re not going to find anything,’ Xander exclaimed loudly. ‘If we were going to, we would have found it already.’
‘Xander,’ Willow admonished but Buffy cut her off.
‘No, he’s right,’ she laid down her book. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to say this but… we need more books. Giles, the stuff you have here, it ain’t getting us anywhere.’
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Willow nodding in agreement. Giles dropped his own book in frustration.
‘I do believe that you are correct. My books do not contain the information we need,’ he took off his glasses and began to polish them with a thoughtful look on his face. ‘Wesley.’
‘Buffy,’ Xander chimed in with a grin. ‘Willow.’
‘Xander,’ Buffy glared at him playfully. He continued to grin unabashedly.
‘When you are finished,’ Giles said in a resigned tone.
‘I’ll call him,’ Buffy offered.
‘Yeah and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Deadboy,’ Xander remarked semi-casually. The hardness in his voice didn’t escape Buffy’s notice.
‘Xander…’ she tried but he brushed her off.
‘Go, call,’ he waved in the direction of the phone, a tight smile on his face
Buffy nodded and got up quickly to call them. There was no answer at the Hyperion so she called Angel’s apartment. It was picked up on the second ring.
‘Angel’s apartment,’ said a distinctly feminine voice.
Buffy froze. Why was there a woman at Angel’s apartment at this time of the night and why was she answering his phone? How well did she know him that she felt comfortable enough to answer his calls? She put the phone down quickly, releasing it to its cradle.
In a split second decision, she picked it back up and instead, dialed Angel’s cell phone. The phone didn’t even ring; it went straight to his message service. Buffy set down the phone as Cordelia’s voice prattled out the message.
‘Buffy?’ Willow’s soft voice broke through the torrent of thought in Buffy’s mind. The Slayer half turned as her friend approached. The ever observant redhead didn’t miss the sheen of tears in her friend’s eyes. ‘Buffy, what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ she answered hoarsely. Nothing… Maybe it IS nothing. Angel wouldn’t cheat on me… right? He loves me.
‘It doesn’t look like nothing, Buffy,’ Willow came to her side and looked intently at her. ‘Did something happen? Is everything okay?’ she pressed on when there was no answer. ‘Is everything okay with Angel?’
Fresh tears sprung into Buffy’s eyes and she broke down. Everything that had happened in the past hour came spewing from her mouth. She was helpless against the torrent, only stopping once every last detail had been wrung from her.
Willow listened intently, only nodding at appropriate intervals and for that Buffy was grateful. It would have been much harder to relate if she’d been interrupted constantly. Eventually she took a deep, shuddering breath and released it, feeling better already.
Willow was quiet for a few moments and Buffy took that to be a bad sign. Dread settled in her stomach as she imagined the possible comments her friend could make; Angel was cheating on her; a client had answered the phone; Cordelia had been fired and a new woman had taken her place. Each seemed as unlikely as the last. The thought of Angel cheating on her, however, refused to leave her mind.
Chancing a look at Willow, Buffy was relived to see only a thoughtful expression on the redhead’s features. ‘What?’ she asked her friend. Though she was worried, Buffy felt some of her anxiety ease at the look on Willow’s face. Buffy knew the redhead would have her best interests at heart.
‘Did the person on the other end introduce herself?’ she asked slowly. A frown marred her beautiful face as Buffy shook her head. ‘And you’re sure you’ve never heard her voice before…’ Buffy nodded and bit her lip as Willow frowned. ‘None of this means he’s cheating on you, Buffy. He could be just busy and a friend answered the phone or maybe it was one of Cordy’s friends who was walking past and heard the phone ring. There could be any number of reasons.’
Buffy laughed wryly, the laugh turned to a sob. ‘Yeah, any number.’ She jumped as the phone rang. Buffy took a step back, instinctively knowing it was coming from the Hyperion. *69 had a lot to answer for.
Willow gave a small smile then picked up the phone. ‘Hello. Oh… hi, Angel. How are… oh, ah, Buffy? Yeah, she’s not here right now… No, she’s not…. Um, no… No, it’s not that she doesn’t want to talk to you, who said that? I didn’t… No, Angel, it’s not like that. She thought you… yes, exactly…well, then who… oh, okay. No, yeah, I’ll tell her. Are you sure you… oh, you are? Okie dokie. We’ll see you then… bye Angel. Oh! Wait! Giles needs some books from Wesley…’
She hung up the phone after informing Angel of the titles needed and what they were researching. Buffy had to violently clam down the urge to beat everything out of her. She’d heard Willow’s end of the conversation but Angel’s side had eluded even her enhanced Slayer hearing.
‘Well?’ she demanded when her friend remained silent. Her frustration grew as Willow continued to smile. ‘What did he say? Who was she? Did he tell you anything?’
‘He did,’ Willow acknowledged with a grin. Buffy could tell she was enjoying this.
‘And?’
‘And… it’s not what you think. The woman who answered the phone was some associate of his, Kate someone. She apparently went looking for Angel and the phone rang so she picked it up. He tried to get to the phone but you’d already hung up.’
‘Oh,’ Buffy almost collapsed with relief before chiding herself for thinking Angel would do that to her. He was committed to her, she knew that, but part of her couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone out there who could take him from her. Someone more mature. Someone who’s not a Slayer.
‘That’s not all. He’s leaving L.A now to come and see you. He wants to make sure you’re okay,’ Willow grinned. ‘He’s a keeper,’ she said lightly as she swung around and headed for the door. “I’ll leave you to get ready.’
She floated out of the room but Buffy had already forgotten she was ever there. Angel was coming… tonight. Oh God. Her room was a mess!
************************
Angel slipped behind the wheel of his most precious asset. He skimmed his hands along the leather interior and sighed. Besides Buffy, he loved this car more than anything in this lifetime. He put the keys in the ignition and started the car, closing his eyes in pleasure as the engine roared to life. He patted the dashboard comfortingly then buckled his seatbelt and pulled out of the parking lot.
He had a lot to think about as he left L.A and drove towards Sunnydale. Damn Kate. The woman had grown increasingly obvious in her attempts to seduce him. Nothing she tried would work though. He was firmly in love with Buffy and nothing could sway him from her.
He just hoped the police woman hadn’t screwed things up for him. Detective Kate Lockley had first worked with him a few months ago on a case involving vampires. It had been her first encounter with that aspect of the world and he’d done what he could to ease her into it. Ever since then, she phoned him up for advice and help, even on the simplest things. Angel had leant to get Cordy to screen his calls.
Cordelia liked the blonde Detective less than anyone else at A.I and was happy to field her calls. Angel hadn’t yet told Buffy about the woman because he hadn’t wanted to tell her it over the phone. He’d wanted to tell her in person, hold her so she knew he was hers. Damn Kate.
He slowed down as the Welcome to Sunnydale sign flew past his window at breakneck speed. A glance at the clock on his dash showed the two hour drive had taken him just over an hour. He stopped at a set of traffic lights and reached up to make sure his hair was still in place. It was an action, he knew, that he would be teased over mercilessly but he always wanted to look his best for Buffy.
His car door was torn away form the body and Angel barely had time to react as he was violently ripped form the car. Rough hands held him down as they bound his hands behind his back. He struggled but his vampiric strength was at a disadvantage in the position he was in. Something kicked him in the stomach hard, and again and Angel heard one of his ribs crack under the pressure.
‘What’ll we do with him?’ he heard one of his attackers ask.
‘He’s wanted alive,’ Angel shuddered at the voice, which reminded him of stone being scraped against stone.
Angel was kicked again, harder, in the side. More ribs cracked.
‘But they didn’t say anything about whole.’
Dum dum dum. Hi guys. Long time no see. Sorry about that. Same usual complaints; work etc... To my complete horror I am going back to school this year. *Sigh* and there I had thought that was all over and done. It had been… for a few brief and shining moments.
Oh well. Let me know what you think of this. There are a few mistakes as I haven’t read over it like I usually do… kinda wanted to get it posted.
Otherwise, I’m out until next time.
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