Disclaimer: Have never been and never will be owned by me... Only the story idea and execution are mine. THOSE you can blame me for. For the rest, see Joss.
Chapter 2
Angel woke with the biggest headache he’d had in over two hundred years. His head hurt, his back hurt, his feet hurt and he was fairly sure something was broken. He swallowed and grimaced; there was a horrible taste in the back of his throat. The vampire reached a trembling hand up to pass over his sun warmed face before his eyes opened wide in shock. Sun warmed?
The sun beat down heavily upon the vampire’s shoulders and it took a moment for him to realize he wasn’t burning to a crisp. It took another moment to realize that he was breathing, and not just for show. He needed to breathe. The air filled his lungs as he drew in a breath and let it go wondrously. He closed his eyes briefly and smiled widely at the rush of feeling he suddenly realised he had.
Yes, every muscle and tendon, every fiber and cell in his body ached like nothing he’d ever felt before, but he was alive. One of his hands came up of its own accord and covered his chest over where his heart lie. The steady thump-thump brought a slow but wide smile to his face. Alive. He was alive.
He slowly got to his feet, wincing as sores rubbed against sores and bruises and cuts made themselves known. A quick feel of his ribs let him know none were broken as he had thought.
He took another deep breath and almost choked on the awful scents that filled his none. He looked around for the culprit and realised -with some disgust- that he was in a rubbish tip. He hobbled around the large pile he was near and almost smiled as the sign for the dump came into view. Sunnydale dump.
Buffy.
*****************
Angelus put his hand on the wall to steady himself. He wasn’t sure what had hit him but whatever it was had knocked him for six. He was seeing double. He held up two left hands to confirm that fact. Whatever had hit him, he hadn’t seen it.
He shook his head to clear the fog clouding it and winced as pain shot to his temples. ‘Vampires aren’t supposed to get headaches,’ he grumbled to himself.
It was then that he realised it was him talking… not Soul Boy. He was in charge. He closed his eyes and searched the recesses of his mind but Angel was no where to be found. Angelus was alone. He straightened up, brushing dust of the black silk shirt. He was in charge.
The vampire studied his surroundings and almost laughed. No matter what happened, he always ended up in alleys. He waltzed out of the alleyway, grabbed the nearest person, a young girl about the age of twenty and tore into her neck. She screamed but no one took any notice. I could get used to this, he thought as her struggles ceased.
He dropped her lifeless body to the ground and wiped the blood from his mouth. Now that he was fed, there was only one thing left to do... look up old friends.
Buffy.
*******************
Buffy’s head slipped off her hand and she woke with a start, catching herself before her head hit the desk. She looked around the room, confused before remembering where she was; Magic Box.
She ran a hand through her tousled hair before grimacing and brought a hand up to wipe the drool form the corner of her mouth. It was then that she realized she was alone. Where’d everybody go?
‘Giles?’ she called out hesitantly. ‘Wills? Xan?’ She rose and skirted the table, calling out their names. No answer. Where’d they all go? She’d only been asleep for a minute, right? ‘Guys? This isn’t funny. Where did ya’s go?’
A sharp noise at the door had her whirling around uncertainly but ready to fight all the same. Xander came down front he front of the shop a groin on his face. ‘My lady awakens,’ he teased then hesitated for a second. ‘Not MY lady, Riley’s lady. I have Anya who I love and adore and have got an apartment for.’ He laughed nervously.
Buffy chuckled. ‘You should have just stopped talking,’ she said sympathetically. ‘Where did you guys all go?’
‘Well, missy, when you fell asleep, Giles suggested we all go get some rest. Riley tried to pick you up to take you home but we got a report that there was a dangerous vampire on the loose so Riley went to take care of it. I went for much needed snackage.’
‘Always valuable,’ Buffy noted. ‘I don’t know how I’d survive without your contributions.’
‘At least some people appreciate what I do for the team, you know, besides being split into to two by a demon then causing a whole lot of hooplah,’ he sat down heavily at the table and Buffy took the seat beside him. ‘Sorry about that by the way.’
‘Sorry about what, Xander?’ Buffy tried to comfort him. ‘You saved my life by stepping in front of the demon. It was very brave of you.’
‘It was, wasn’t it?’ Xander lit up.
'If it wasn’t for you, I’d have been weak-normal-girl-Buffy and Slayer-Buffy. If Toth had managed to get me, I’d have been dead Buffy. So, thank you, Xander. My hero,’ she smiled at him and patted his head.
‘Who’s a hero?’ Riley asked as he came into the room from the back area. He kissed Buffy on the forehead and then collapsed into one of the other chairs.
‘Xander is,’ Buff said proudly. She watched as Riley pulled back his shirt sleeve, revealing a long, already healing, gash on his arm. ‘Are you okay? What happened?’
‘Yeah, I’m fine. Lost concentration and the hostile marked me. It’ll be fine,’ Riley said dismissively. ‘Wasn’t too deep and it’s already healing.’
Buffy frowned but didn’t say anything. This was not the first time Riley had lost concentration lately, had been off his game. It had been happening more frequently of late and she was getting worried. Maybe he wasn’t taking enough care when he was fighting or maybe he was slipping.
The bell over the door jingled as someone entered the front area. ‘I’ll go,’ Xander sighed. ‘Anya and Giles are stocktaking downstairs and I don’t think Anya likes having Buffy around the till.’
‘Hey!’ Buffy exclaimed, disgruntled. Damn that ex-vengeance demon.
While Xander dealt with the customer, Buffy inspected Riley’s wounds against his will. None of them would require stitches, but a few would need cleaning. She retrieved the first-aid kit from behind the counter and began to patch up the ex-commando.
‘Men are such babies,’ she muttered as Riley winced when she cleaned the wound on his arm. He pointedly looked at her and she ignored him. It was widely known that Buffy was not a happy Buffy when Giles disinfected her injuries.
The customer left, purchase in hand and Xander returned to the table. ‘What’d I miss?’
As soon as the words left his mouth, the front door of the Magic Box opened again, sending the tinkling sound through the store. Before Xander could stand, Angel sidled to the counted and leant there, watching them.
Xander rolled his eyes. ‘Fabu. Deadboy’s here. Now the party can really get started.’
Angel growled and lunged at Xander. His hands wrapped around his throat and the boy’s eyes began to bulge as the vampire strangled him. Shocked by the turn of events, Buffy was slow to react. She grabbed Angel and threw him away from Xander. He crashed into the counter, shattering some of the glass. Giles and Anya came running up from the basement.
Angel stood calmly in the centre of everyone. Buffy stared at him. It’d been months since she’d last seen him and he looked good. Really good.
‘What on earth is going on in here?’ Giles asked looking from Xander to Buffy, to Angel and back to Buffy.
‘Deadboy tried to kill me,’ Xander rasped, rubbing his sore throat.
‘Yes, well, unusual as that may be, Angel, what are you doing here?’ Giles turned the focus back on the glowering vampire.
Buffy watched as Angel vamped out. ‘I thought that was obvious. I’m here to kill you all.’ He grinned at Buffy. ‘Hello again, lover.’
‘Angelus,’ Buffy breathed, backing away.
‘Got it in one.’
Dum dum dummmm...
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