Legal Stuff: Buffy the Vampire Slayer concept & characters (Buffy, Angel, Oz, Willow, Cordelia, Xander, Giles, Drusilla & Kendra) are tm & (c) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and basically belong to them, Joss Whedon, The WB Television Network and Mutant Enemy (Rrrr...Argh...). They were created by Joss Whedon, and I have absolutely nothing to do with it (wish I did). Atherlae is an otherwise original work that is (c) Fox Lee 1999, (yours truly). Any similarity between events in this story and in real life (yeah, that happened to ME and MY vampire boyfriend just the other day!) is purely coincidental and unintended (so deal with it). If you like this story and want it posted on your page, lack of frequent e-mail access prompts me to say 'feel free - in fact, please do', so long as you don't edit any bits and you make sure my name's on it along with this message. If you do re-post it, please e-mail me to let me know.
Last edited: 10-3-99
Timespan: This would either have to take place before Angel turned evil again, or after his return (he ain't back yet in Australia...*SOB*...). I began writing it just after the episode "Ted". Please note that I can't be held responsible for any inaccuracies that I wasn't aware of at this point, and that I've only actually seen about five or six episodes (not including the comics or what I've read on the Internet). What I'm trying to say is if I've screwed up, don't be too disgusted (but e-mail me and tell me so I don't embarrass myself too much!).
E-mail: Compliment me, criticize me, yell at me, insult me...heck, I don't care. The place to send it all is cyberslayerfox@yahoo.com. If that doesn't work properly (it ain't my fault) try fox_lee@hotmail.com.
Gimmicky promo stuff (!!!!!): Keep an eye out for my second Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfic, There Can Be Only One, in which a summer adventure camp and a mysterious girl tied to Angel's past cause some serious trouble for the Slayer and her friends. Also, a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary school dance in A Night To Remember. Coming soon from Cyberslayer (hey, that's me!).
Oh, by the way: If you've got this story on your page and would like a decent-looking html version with groovy graphics, decent fonts, formatting etc. (I REALLY hate .txt files), please contact me.
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Part One
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Buffy Summers let out a barely audible sigh as she ducked inside a badly-aimed swing. If a vampire was going to go to the trouble of attacking her, it might have at least been a decent fighter.
"This is a waste of both our time, y'know," she muttered, blocking two clumsy punches and driving her knee into its chest. The vamp stumbled back, growling in anger and surprise, but was too slow to get a blow in edgewise as she delivered a low kick to its knee, grabbed one flung-out arm, and flipped the soulless creature over her shoulder. Before it could rise, her freshly sharpened stake was in her hand, and driving through layers of skin and flesh with a rather sickening crunching noise. Wrenching her stake free again, Buffy stood back as the vampire disintegrated in a satisfying little explosion, flicking stray strands of blonde away from her eyes.
"Chalk one up for the Slayer."
The comment came from behind her, and the reflex action of kicking out in that direction had taken place before she'd realized who was responsible for it. Fortunately, Angel had been prepared.
"Hey," he cautioned after ducking her move, "careful. You could hurt somebody."
"Angel!" Buffy snapped. "How many times have I told you not to do that?!"
"Counting just then?" He inquired calmly.
"Angel - "
"C'mon. Loosen up. What's with you, anyway?"
"Try total and utter boredom," she grumbled.
"Ah. They're not exactly keeping you on your toes, huh?"
"Hardly. I mean, I don't want to come across as ungrateful, but they've really been scraping the bottom of the barrel lately."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"Yes..." Buffy suddenly realized that Angel had slipped an arm around her shoulders. "...Well, not really..."
Grinning, he kissed her forehead.
"I guess it does give me more spare time..." she mused.
Angel laughed. Not loudly; just a short, breathy chuckle accompanied by a contented smile. The Slayer mirrored the smile; She loved to see him happy, more to hear his laughter. It didn't happen nearly often enough. It gave her one of those slightly sickening 'warm-and-fuzzy' feelings that probably would have made Giles laugh out loud, had she described it to him.
"Okay," Buffy conceded. "Definitely a good thing."
She was content just to let him hold her for a few minutes, and then broke the circle of his arms.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," she grinned, "I was trying to have a nice, peaceful jog. If you want to talk, I guess you'll just have to try and keep up."
He raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a challenge, Slayer."
She shrugged. "Your call."
Without warning, Buffy took off, laughing at Angel's shocked expression.
"Hey!" he protested, immediately pursuing. "That wasn't fair!"
"Afraid of losing?" She taunted playfully from her head start.
"Oh, now you're in trouble!" Speeding up, he slowly gained on her just as she neared the park's small duck pond.
"Gotcha!" he dived for her legs, at the same time as she cried, "Angel, wait!" to no avail. The vampire tackled her, pulling her over on top of him, and at the same time giving them both enough momentum to roll down the small hill and end up sprawled in the murky water.
"Smooth move," Buffy grunted, removing a lily pad from its perch atop her head.
"You started it," Angel muttered.
At the sound of a furious hiss, the Slayer and the vampire looked up. A disgruntled resident of the pond, a large, angry-looking goose, was gliding over, glaring at them quite dangerously.
Angel looked at Buffy. "You aren't allowed to slay that, are you?"
"Idiot," she scowled back. "Have you ever heard of a vampire goose?"
"Then I suggest we run!" Angel grabbed her hand, and the pair scrambled clumsily out of the pond just in time to avoid the goose's wrathful vengeance, laughing until they were out of breath.
"You know," Buffy gasped between tears of laughter, "We aren't idiots together nearly often enough. We have to do this more often."
"What," Angel grinned, "and piss off 'Count Duckula' down there again?! Thanks, but I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you!"
They collapsed side-by-side onto the grass, breathless and soaked, filthy and tired, into fits of laughter that made their sides ache. At length, Angel sat up, his breathing finally slowed to a normal rate, and ran one hand through his dampened hair.
"You're right, you know," he said. "We don't do this often enough. I mean, just running around being stupid. Having fun."
"Three guesses why that is," Buffy grunted.
"I was thinking about it earlier," Angel continued. "It can't be good for either of us. Us, I mean. It's your ultimate tragic romance. It's pretty dangerous."
"Angel?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't think."
Another quiet chuckle as he gathered her up and kissed her again, this time the long, slow kind. She loved it when he kissed her like that; it gave her the chance, if only for a moment, to forget about Slayers and vampires and demons and Watchers and just pretend that she was a regular, ordinary teenage girl who was out with her regular, ordinary boyfriend under the stars. Just for a moment.
He released her too soon, and she sought his lips again immediately. But he moved away, his focus suddenly somewhere else.
"Did you hear something?" he asked her.
"Man, Angel, that line is such a cliché," she groaned.
"No, really."
"Where'd it come from?" She asked, looking around. In front of them the grass sloped down to the duck pond, ringed by the track she had been jogging on. To their left was an old park bench, to their right a small gazebo. Behind them was nothing but grass, eventually becoming a line of small shrubs and bushes that formed a ring around the entire park. Except for them, the goose appeared to be the only other form of life present. But then, both the Slayer and the vampire knew better than to take things as they appeared. And besides, Buffy reminded herself, it doesn't necessarily have to be alive.
She felt Angel shift his weight uneasily beside her. She too could feel that something wasn't right.
Geez, she thought to herself, another stupid cliché.
Something had just moved. She could sense it. And this time, it hadn't been Angel. Buffy scrambled to her feet, assuming fighting stance, and Angel mirrored her. They stood back to back, neither saying a word.
"Maybe I was wro-" Angel began in a whisper, but Buffy cut him off.
"Sshhh!" she hissed. "You were right. There's something out there...something...Angel, duck!"
The Slayer threw herself to the ground as the creature sprang from the bushes, snarling viciously. Just in time, she thought, feeling a rush of hot wind and the tips of coarse hair as it brushed past.
Unfortunately, Angel hadn't hit the deck when she had. With her down, their shadowy assailant had Angel's undefended back to take advantage of. The unprepared vampire went down under its weight mid-turn, fending off some sort of squat, powerful animal as it snapped at his face and arms.
A furious cry went up, a growl of pain and anger that could have belonged to Angel as easily as the creature. Wasting no more time, she sprung into a squatting position and pivoted in a sweeping kick, grinning in satisfaction as she felt it catch the unknown beast and heard the creature's pained yelp. It was thrown back slightly, giving Angel the opportunity to roll away and leap to his feet, as she did.
But the fight was over. The mysterious beast was on its feet and running in a second. It was followed immediately by the adamant Slayer, but Buffy couldn't keep up. Surprised at its speed, she slowed to a dispirited stop, able only to take note of its hunched, compact shape and decidedly lupine gait, information that might be useful later.
Frustrated, she jogged back to check on Angel. Having reverted back to his human appearance after the fight, Buffy's bruised boyfriend was holding one shoulder tightly and glaring darkly in the direction of the creature's departure.
"Are you okay?" She asked, noticing.
"I'll be fine. But whatever that thing was, it sure was strong."
She took his arm gently, and he winced. "We should get help. You're bleeding everywhere."
"And this is a new jacket, too," he grunted. "Damn."
Still gripping his shoulder, he allowed her to lead him away.
And, not too far behind them, a dark shadow watched, black eyes alight.
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