The vampire ran. He was terribly afraid, three of his brothers had just been staked, and he was next in line. He jumped down into a walk way from his high perch. He turned to see his attacker jump down as well, keeping up his pace. the vampire thought as he ran even faster.
He dodged pedestrians, thinking that he had lost the vampire hunter. He was wrong. A strong hand reached out from the ally he was in front of and yanked him. Automatically, he vamped out and struck at his attacker. His attacker grabbed his arm and spun it away from him. The vampire snarled, only getting a right cross in his face as an award.
The vampire hunter asked, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
The vampire didn't answer. The vampire hunter rolled his dark eyes and grabbed him. Then the vampire smelled it. The vampire hunter wasn't human. He was a vampire. The vampire asked, "What the hell are you doing?"
The traitor smiled and slammed him against the wall. He answered, "Cleaning up." The vampire looked up to see the stake plunge right into his heart before he exploded into a cloud of ash.
* * *
The girl was crying in great, gulping sobs. Wesley Wyndom-Price and Cordelia Chase were doing everything they could to take care of her. She was attacked by a fierce foursome of vampires, but thanks to Cordelia's vision, Angel and his sidekicks were able to save her. Angel had gone after the fourth vampire, leaving Wesley and Cordelia to take care of the girl.
The girl was young and pretty, a college student, with short, layered dark aubren hair and slanted brown eyes. She looked up at Wesley and asked, "Where did he go? Is he alright? I mean, what if they get him?"
Wesley bent closer to the girl and answered, "Angel does this sort of thing all the time. He will be alright. I assure you."
Then, almost to reinstate what Wesley had just said, Angel walked over to him, shaking off some stray ash from the vampire. Angel looked down at the girl and asked, "Are you okay?"
The girl pushed strands of her hair from her eyes and she looked around. She answered, "Yeah, I'm fine, but where did *they* go?"
Angel's half smile was as mocking as it was reassuring. He answered, "Don't worry, they won't bother you ever again."
Cordelia quipped, "Yeah, he's just dust in the wind." Both Watcher and vampire looked at Cordelia, who smiled at her tactlessness. Angel smiled as well, then turned his attention on the girl.
He asked, "What's your name?"
"Um, Carley St. Augustine," she answered as she looked around.
Angel held out his hand to her to lift her off the pavement. Carley took it eagerly and Angel easily pulled her up, taking the role of Knight in Shining Armor very well in Wesley's opinion. He smiled and asked, "Come on Carley, do you have anyone you can call?"
She nodded as the Triumpulate walked the girl into the glitter that was Los Angeles, all three of them unaware that someone was watching them.
* * *
The number of vampires had grown in the boardroom in the Russle Winters Skyscraper. It was each of the Circles most trusted advisers and servants that had entered the room now, except in Damon's case, his were a trio of lovely young women that hovered around him in low cut slip dresses. Ash watched them each with a mixture of boredom and curiosity. Her servant, a large female named Jaqulin, stratled a chair behind her.
Jaquline asked, in her usual brash tone, "What about this player we've heard so vaguely about?" Ash looked at her fledgling with a raised eyebrow. Jaquline was scowling at the lawyer who was comfortable in a room full of vampires. Too comfortable, in Ash's opnion.
The lawyer, who's name was Lindsey, smiled at Jaquiln and answered, "Well, Jaquline, I was about to bring that point up."
"Good for you," Jaquline replied with a scowl. Ash grinned at her fledgling. Then she looked at the human, who wasn't unfazed by Jaq's brashness. Jaquline was very disturbing, not because she was a vampire, but just on her appearance alone. She was tall, taller than Ash, clocking around six feet. She was a big, raw boned young woman, well built, muscular. She was dressed in baggie cammo cargo pants, an OD green T-shirt, a beat up, leather biker jacket with studs embedded into the black material. Her face was harsh angles, a square jaw, slanted hazel eyes. Attractive, but her left eye brow being nothing but stainless steel rings, and her nose and lip pieced gave her a fierce apparency. She had an ear cuff with a chain attaching to a gage on her left ear, and her right ear was just various gages and hoops circling the cartilage. Her short, shaggy auburn hair hung into her eyes as she looked back at Ash. Ash smiled.
Ash patted her hand, partly to show her power, partly to annoy Jaq, and partly to reassure her friend. She said, "Chill, Jaquline, impatience doesn't suit you."
"It suits you," the other vampire pointed out.
Dais said, "Yes, but this is Ash you are talking about here. She can get away with it."
Damon leered at her, his gaze lingering on her breasts. Ash glared at him, and Damon looked away. Ash replied, "Yeah, because you all know that I can kick your asses."
Jennifer raised her eyebrow and replied, "You shouldn't be too sure about that."
Ash glared at the child fiend and then smiled. She simply stated, "Remember who is the Slayer of Slayers in this room, will you people."
Umbra let out a throaty chuckle, and the others fell silent. It was true, Ash had hunted and killed twenty-five Slayers in her time. It was fun and a challenge. Through Ash had given it up for a time so she wouldn't get burned out on it. She smiled and tapped her silver fingernails on the table. She looked at Lindsey and said, with a dismissive wave of her hand, "You can go on now."
The human smiled and pressed on a call button on the table. He said, "You can send Mr. Fellows up now." The vampires looked at him curiously.
Jennifer asked, "Question, how did Winters die?"
Ash looked over at the girl. She had been thinking the same thing earlier. She quipped, "Yeah, Lindsey, this could be useful info at some point."
Damon said, "Well, I'm curious."
Dais said, "We must know so we can eliminate this threat carefully."
Umbra smiled and purred, "This could be interesting."
Hunters raised his hand and said, "Lindsey will get to this all in good time."
Ash raised her eyebrow and grinned. She said, "Well, no time's better than the present."
A vamp in an Armani suit walked in with a video tape in his hands. Ash watched as Lindsey popped the tape in and the monikers in the center of the table came to life. There was a board meeting, but Ash wasn't paying monitors attention to what they were saying, but Winters was there. Then, the doors swung open to reveal a handsome young man, seemingly to be in his mid- twentys, striding boldly into the room, his long duster swinging behind him. Ash licked her lips as she watched Lindsey, in the tape, gave said babe a card. The Guy just looked at him without much thought, walked passed him, and strait for Winters.
Ash was infatuated. That took balls.
Anyway, he spoke. His voice was deep and soft, incredibly sexy as he asked, "Can you fly?" Ash watched in pleasant surprise as he placed his foot between Winters legs, shoved, and sent Winters flying into the bright sun.
"Cool," Jennifer said. Ash was thinking something along the same thing.
Umbra said, "I like those shoulders."
Irons said, "He looks familiar." They looked at Irons. Irons shrugged and watched the screen. They turned their attention back to the screen.
It was the same guy, beating the crap out of some humans. Really pounding them. Ash liked his style. Jaq whispers, "This guy's good."
"You've noticed that too?" Ash asked in amusement.
"Not in the way you're thinking," Jaq replied sharply. Ash only smiled in reply to that as they looked at the screen.
*There* was something familiar about the handsome guy on the monitor. Ash leaned her cheek on her palm as she studied the video more closely. Lindsey went on, "His name is Angel. He's a vampire, and why he's doing all this, we don't know."
"Angelus," Irons spoke without realizing it.
"The vampire cursed with a soul?" Umbra asked, her voice betraying curiosity and disgust.
Irons nodded and lightly tapped his fingers against his lips. He went on, "I thought that the curse was only a rumor in the early 1900's until I met the Gypsies that cursed him."
"Gypsies, the idiots," Umbra said with obvious distaste.
Ash couldn't help but to grin and say, "Down Girl. They can't hurt you."
"They're idiots! They play with magics they don't understand, and curse people without worrying about the coniquinces," Umbra snapped.
"That's the witch talking," Jennifer said with a wiry amusement. Ash glared at her. Umbra was the person on the Circle that Ash liked and trusted the most. So she was the only one who could tease her.
Umbra was a witch before she was a vampire, so that gave her certain personality strengths. Like control over men. Something that Ash held very dear to her heart. So, Ash glared at the brat.
Dais asked, "So what are we going to do about him?" Ash glared at him as well. Damn bloodthirsty jerk.
Jaquline leaned forward and whispered, "This guy could be dangerous."
Ash shrugged. She hadn't been this excited in a long time about anything. Then, it connected. "Angelus, the Scourge of Europe. I remember him. We tried to get him into the Circle after Marcus died." Marcus was one of the members who passed away very quickly only to get replaced. Damon was his replacement.
She went on, "Darla, darling girl, gave up the chance to be with us and suggested her blood child. Intelligent, ruthless, absolutely cruel, and with the face of an angel." Ash went on, fondly remembering her friend. She had sired Darla, and Darla had made an absolute lovely fiend. Legend had it that the Master had sired Darla, but he didn't. It was Ash, and Ash's sire had sired the Master. The bastard, she thought. So, the Master was connected to the Circle, as well as Darla was, and Angelus.
She looked at the monitor, which was paused on a close-up of Angelus' face. She took a good look at him. They were right to pin the phrase "face of an angel" on him. High cheekbones, a nice mouth that curved to the side, he probably smiled lopsidedly naturally, and the most beautiful dark-brown eyes that Ash had ever seen. He had spiky dark hair that fit his face and possibly his personality. No wonder Darla spoke of him so often. Ash would have kept a tight hold on someone who looked like this.
She asked, out of the blue, "How about the curse, how can we break it?"
Umbra shrugged and answered, "Shouldn't be that hard if I had the original spell."
Irons smiled and said, "The Council should be of help then."
Damon looked spooked. He said, "We can't just take a vampire and add them to the Circle just because you want f*** them, Ash." Ash glared at him.
She snapped, "What, you jealous Damon? Because I don't wanna f*** you, ass face. Sorry, I don't think you can handle me." She smiled sweetly and added, "Besides, I don't think you're my type."
"Enough you two," Hunters scolded. They looked at him, well, Ash, still pissed, glared.
Irons said, "Ash may have a point. Angelus is also a part of the Circle in some degree. Ash sired Darla, who sired Angelus. Besides, we could use him."
Damon grumbled, "We all know how Ash wants to use him."
Jennifer's grin caught Ash off guard. She said, "She isn't the only one." Ash shuttered. Jennifer was on the Circle long before Ash had fangs, but she still looked like a twelve-year-old girl. The thought of Jennifer sleeping with anyone discussed Ash.
Jaq asked, "So, what's the plan?"
* * *
"Angel, if you say it's been too quiet lately, I'm gonna hit you," Cordelia threatened Angel as he paced past her. He thought all this quiet was the proverbial calm before the storm. He went on pacing as Wesley was reading some ancient tomb, and Cordelia was glaring at him.
He faced her and said, "I just think that something gonna come up, that's all."
Cordy crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "Are you suddenly a physic now, or is this just vampire wiggens?"
Wesley looked up from his book and said, "Angel has every right to be concerned. There is a certain pattern to this kind of things."
Cordelia rolled her eyes and Angel decided it was a good time to disappear to his haven before they started to bicker. He wished it was after sundown so he could go out onto the roof. The view up there was excellent. It was one of the few ounces of calmness in his chaotic world. But, instead, he went into the sewers.
He started to walk, aimlessly touring the tunnels. Then, he saw a person hunched over about twenty feet away. Dead, but alive. A vampire, but it was injured for some reason. Cautious, Angel walked over to him.
The vampire was in his human face as he looked up at Angel. He was young when he was changed, late teens, younger than Cordelia. He had longish pale brown hair that fell into his face, obscuring his eyes. He was beat up pretty badly. His face was bloody and he was clutching at his stomach.
The vampire said, "You better watch yourself, brother."
He didn't know what Angel was. That could be useful. Angel asked, "Was it a Slayer?" Faith may be in a coma right now, but Slayers healed very quickly.
The boy shook his head and coughed up some blood. "A demon?" Angel asked, wanting to know if this was a threat to humans.
"One of us," the boy answered with fear in his tone.
"What happened?" Angel asked somewhere between panic and curiosity. It wasn't him. He usually killed the vampires he faced. He would never let one of them suffer like this, unless it was perhaps Spike.
"My girlfriend. My sire," his smile was wicked in remembrance as he went on, "She wasn't being cooperative."
Angel tried not to slam the boy's head into the brick wall he was slumped against. He asked, trying to keep the obvious distaste and anger out of his tone, "So, did you try to make her ‘cooperate'?" The girl might have been a vampire, but what the boy was suggesting was discussing.
He nodded and went on, "Yeah, then this physco bitch comes from nowhere. She kicks my ass and lets my girl go. Then she beats me some more."
Angel couldn't help the half grin that formed on his lips. He asked, "How were you sure she wasn't a Slayer?"
"She was cold, and there was the fact that she had no heartbeat," he annoyingly told Angel.
Angel smiled and went on, "So, a *girl* kicked your ass and left you for dead."
"Not just any chick, dude, but the Bitch From Hell," the boy replied.
Angel shrugged and asked, "Can you tell me anything about the ‘Bitch From Hell'?"
He choked and shook his head. He answered, "Not much. She was tall. Good body, *great* body, and had long blond hair. Oh, and she was strong." Then his eyes focused as he added, "A ring."
"What kind of ring?" Angel asked him, thrusting his face to the boy's.
The boy smiled and answered, "A garnet. Glowed like blood."
"Anything else," Angel demanded.
The boy shrugged and asked, "Why do you wanna know all this stuff?"
Angel smiled and pulled out a stake from the pocket of his leather jacket. He aimlessly spun it and causally answered, "Oh, no reason what so ever." Then he looked hard at the boy. He added, "By the way, the name's Angel."
He froze in terror. Angel didn't know whether to grin or just stake him. He was really making himself a name in Los Angeles, he had to admit. Angel drawled, "So, you've heard of me then?"
The boy pleaded, "Please, don't kill me."
Angel shrugged and replied, "You should have thought of that before your hurt your girlfriend, even if she's a vampire." With that, the boy pleaded some more. Angel ignored him as he drove the stake into his heart. The boy exploded around Angel as he rose up.
He wondered what all this meant.
* * *
Jaq had been watching and taping what happened. Ash was watching with sophisticated electronic equipment from the office building. She had beaten up the fledgling because he tried to force his sire into doing something that she didn't want to. Ash was particular on things like that.
Jaquline pressed the receiver button on her ear and asked, "Hey, Ash, did you see that?"
Ash's voice was amused as she answered, "Well, he's more heartless than I am. I just wanted to teach the boy a lesson."
"Well, he's dust now, and Angelus, Angel rather, doesn't really care if he's being a traitor or not," Jaquline told her.
"The boy was shaking in his shorts," Ash said in that same amused tone. Then she said, "Hey, come back to base, kay. We've got stuff we need to do."
Jaq shrugged and began the route back to the office building.
* * *
"He talked about a ring, a garnet ring," Angel told Wesley as the ex-Watcher peered through Angel's books.
Wesley's brow was knotted in concentration as he replied, "Himm, a garnet ring. Did the boy say anything else?"
Angel answered, "Yeah, she was an attractive blonde, tall, and that was about it. Also, that she has a problem with men. Or at least ones who mistreat women."
From the outer office, Cordelia said, "Then she'll *love* you then."
Angel just half smiled at the barb and turned his attention to the book. The garnet ring sounded a little bit familiar. Darla had a garnet ring that she carried with her ever since he had known her. But, the garnet was a fairly common gem, and a lot of women wore them. Exspecaly vampires because the gem reminded them of blood.
"Perhaps it's some symbol of some vampiric faction or clan," Wesley mentioned.
"Or just the vampire caught a glimpse of it while she was kicking his ass. It's red, easy to catch," Angel told him.
Cordelia walked into the room and asked, "Did he mention what metal it was set in?"
"What do you mean?" Wesley asked.
Cordy rolled her eyes like this was obvious knowledge and tossed her long, dark hair. She answered, "Silver or gold, Wes. Geez, am I the only one with any fashion knowledge here?"
Angel had to chuckle as Wesley looked down at his kacki pants and pale flannel shirt. He seemed a bit offended at that. Then Cordelia turned to Angel and said, "I wasn't talking about you, even though you only use the ‘black on black' look, but it works for a brooding vampire."
"Um, thanks, I think," Angel replied to her. Sometimes, hell, most of the time, she said too much, too fast. Then, his brain automatically shifting in detective mode, he answered her, "No, he didn't mention a metal, or any designs on it. Maybe she just likes garnets or something."
He shrugged and looked at Wesley, who was still looking down at his clothing, trying to figure out what was wrong. Angel smiled again, and Cordy just rolled her eyes. Then Wesley said, "Well, maybe we should just find this . . ."
Cordelia shouted, "Don't let me fall!" She started to twitch and convulse. Angel grabbed her and steadied her as the vision passed. She blinked and looked up at him. She said, "That was a lot of nothing."
Worried, Angel asked, "What did you see?"
Cordelia pushed her thick hair from her face as she answered, "Not much. A garnet ring, of all things. Set in silver, with some sort of freaky design in the band. A table with a bunch of people sitting at it, and seven of them were like glowing, but I couldn't see any faces. But, I felt a lot. Evil. A whole lot of evil going on at that table, but one of the glowing people, a girl, was like, board. Like she wished she could be any place else right now."
"Can you tell us about the deisign in the ring?" Wesley asked.
Cordelia shrugged and grabbed the steno pad she kept on her desk as well as a pen. She drew a circle with three smaller interlocking circles inside of it. Angel took the paper. No, Darla's ring had the same design on it.
"Oh my god, I've seen this before," he said before he realized it.
"Do you care to share?" Cordelia asked.
Angel sat down and studied the drawling for a moment. He knew that Wesley was closely watching him, seeing what he would say. Angel answered, "Darla had a ring exactly like this. She didn't wear it much, but she kept it wherever we went."
"Hey, wasn't Darla that vamp who sired you?" Cordy asked with sudden curiosity.
Angel nodded as he looked at the drawing. "I remember her. I saw her at the Bronze a couple of times during our Sophomore year, right as Buffy showed up. Terrible fashion sense, that Catholic school look," Cordelia said in recognition.
Angel nodded as he looked at the drawing. He said, "It's not the Master's. Not the Order of Aurelius. They had a black design."
"How do you know this?" Wesley asked.
Angel fell silent as he continued to study the crude drawing. He wasn't about to mention that he was chosen to be the Master's replacement if anything happened to him, or that he was to sit on his right come the day. Luckily, that day never came. He was freed, but a rejuvenated Buffy had kicked his ass and impaled him on a wooden window payne. He frowned. Things were a lot simpler then.
he thought with a sad regret. He had gone up to a period of days without thinking of her, but when he did, it was like pouring salt in an open wound. He tapped his fingers on the drawing and tried to clear his mind of the small, blonde, green-eyed Slayer.
He looked at Wesley and answered, "I thought you had studied me, so you should know."
Cordelia snorted, and Wesley looked at her. Wesley said, "Well, I did, but not your social habits."
"Just his freaky killing skills, then?" Cordelia asked him. Angel looked sharply at his friend, she only shrugged and rubbed her temples.
Wesley embarrassedly shrugged and answered, "Well, there's so much on Angel. It's a lot to read. A lot to study, there was no way I could learn all of it in this short amount of time."
Angel sadly smirked as he said, "Well, forget about that. I wanna know what that symbol means, and quick."
Wesley was already heading to the books while Cordelia was turning on the computer. Angel slipped into his leather jacket and was out the door to see what he could find on the street.
* * *
Angel entered the smokey bar with caution. Several vampires looked up at him, then back at their drinks, stood up, and quickly left the bar in a hurry. His contact wasn't in here, but he still could get information anyways. Then, he noticed the eflin child looking at him.
She was a vampire, how old, Angel didn't know, but she was changed when she was young. She had long dark blond hair that hung in her elfin features and strange grey eyes. She looked like anyother twelve year old girl that one might find in the steets, except, her eyes. She was dressed in a black T-shirt with the "X-Files" logo on it and baggie blue jeans.
Her exspression was filled with bitter contepmt, but it changed when she saw Angel. It became lanuid, curious almost. Angel walked over to her. Children that were made into vampires were very curious things, evil and horrid, but also unpredictable. They could be savage, or they could play the helpless child routeen, or they could play it at a tragic angle. This girl wasn't following any of the paterns from what Angel could tell.
She lifted up her left hand, a sliver and garnet ring gleamed on it. Angel, intreagued, walked over to her table. She looked up at him and said, "Sit down." She sounded like any girl her age, except there was a maturaty to how she handled herself, and to how she spoke.
Angel did. She held up her hand, and there was the circle design in the ring. She said, "Hi, my name's Jennifer. Don't worry, I'm not hear to bite anyone." She chuckled self-depicticly, "Besides, I don't think I could reach anyone's neck."
Angel watched her and asked, "Then, what are you doing here?" It was obvious that she knew who he was, but wanted to know how and why. And he wasn't going to beat it out of her. Maybe it was the fact that she was traped in a child's body, or something, eventhough Angel knew she was dangerous.
Jennifer answered, "I know who you are Angelus. That's why I'm here, I wanna talk to you."
"Fine, talk. I'm listening," Angel replied. But, before she spoke, he added, "It's Angel by the way, not Angelus."
"Angel, intresting," Jennifer said with an impish grin. Then her face became serious as she said, "Well, at least you're not treating me like a child."
Angel frowned, she must get that a lot from other vampires. She might be a rouge, killing her own kind, just like him. He told her, "You might be older than me for all I know."
She smiled at that and said, "That's true. I fondly remember the Plauge."
Angel didn't say anything about that off hand comment. Instead he asked, "What did you want to talk about?"
She smiled and held up her ring. She answered, "This."
Angel leaned twards her and said, "I'm listening."
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