Angel simply strummed his fingers on his desk as he waited for the modem to connect. He knew the Cordelia and Wesley were watching him, and he didn't care. He got into his e-mail and typed in an address. Willow's address, in both her home and Yahoo! accounts. He typed in the message to ask Giles if he had heard of a vampire named Ash.
He was about to hit the Send icon when he deleted the message. If he brought Giles into this, then Buffy would be brought into this, and that would only complicate things. "Damn it," he swore softly as he logged off the Net.
Wesley asked, "What happened? Did the system, um, what's the word . . . crash?"
Cordy rolled her eyes and answered for him, "Are you stupid? Angel doesn't want to get them involved. Duh. Geez, for some scholarly guy, you don't know jack."
Angel didn't join in on their conversation. Just out of curiosity, he got on Cordelia's demon web site and typed in: The Circle, Vampires, Ash. He waited for a moment as it searched. It flashed and started to connect to a page. Angel smiled grimly as he waited.
The image of the garnet ring was in the top corner. In a script, "The Circle" was typed on the screen. Angel began to read:
Angel poured down the page at almost a feverish pace. He drank in the words rapidly, committing them to memory. He didn't know if his excellent memory was a curse or a blessing, for sometimes it could be helpful, and at others it could be very painful.
He read about a vampire named Joshua Hunters who had lead the Circle for more than two thousand years, and was presumed older than that. There was a sketch of Hunters on the site. He was tall, angular features, dark red hair and blue-grey eyes. There was little mention of the Circle at least holding one vampiric witch at a time, and sometimes, after a witch was slain, they would find a human witch and change them just to fill the spot.
After Angel had gotten to the bottom of the page, an icon read: CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT JOSHUA HUNTERS. Intrigued, Angel clicked on it and waited for the page to come up. When it finally appeared, it had an oil painting with more information on Joshua Hunters. Angel read about Hunters particular distaste for werewolves how he amassed witch hunts for the poor, cursed people.
"This guy's a bastard," he told his companions.
"Who is he?" Wesley asked.
Angel looked at the Watcher and answered, "Joshua Hunters."
"The werewolf hunter?" Wesley asked.
"He hunts *werewolves*?" Cordelia asked in disbelief.
Angel nodded as he absently scratched his eyebrow. He answered, "Yeah, he did, maybe still does."
Wesley said in remembrance, "He has a strong hate for werewolves and some other demons. A vampiric purest. He's old, but no one knows exactly hold old he is."
Angel disconnected from the Net and turned to look at them. Cordelia shrugged and said, "Hey, it's cool. You'll get into this really huge fight with him, save some poor werewolf, and kill him. No problem. Well, unless he gets all ‘grrrrr', then you'll just show him who's boss."
Wesley told her, "Cordelia, it isn't that easy. Joshua Hunters hunts werewolves just for sport. He is well trained and very intelligent. Never underestimate your enemy."
Cordelia shrugged and replied, "Hey, has anything that Angel *needed* to kill get away?"
Angel looked up at her and answered, "Spike, and I didn't kill Penn, Kate did."
"Yeah, by ramming a two-by-four in your stomach," Cordy replied.
Angel smiled, her faith in him was reassuring. Then he said, "Then there was my fight with Jaquline last night."
"The dyke from Hell?" Cordelia asked in remembrance, her face squinching up in disgust.
Angel snorted at that. As always, Cordelia summed up the situation up in a sentence or less.
He remembered his fight with Jaquiline and those steel-toed boots. Inwardly, he flinched at the memory. That was just not playing fair, so Angel had retaliated by ripping several of her pircings out of her skin before staking her. He remembered when he had brought Jaquline's jewelry to Ash. The female vampire had been furious. Angel remembered how her icy blue eyes sparked and narrowed at him.
He wondered what their next move would be, and what Ash was doing right now.
* * *
London, England
1339
Ash followed the vampire named Joshua Hunters through the castle. She lifted her skirt up, making sure that the fine crimson velvet didn't touch the dirty rushes. She asked, "Joshua, you spoke on the street about becoming something more, why me?"
He smiled at her and held out his pale hand. Ash was weary of him. She had a natural distrust in all vampires, regardless of sex. He answered, "You have potential, my dear, and it would be a shame to let that potential die."
She shrugged and answered, "I don't see what is amiss with killing a Slayer. Tis not a big thing. They bleed just like any other human."
Hunters threw back his head and laughed. He replied, "Ash, Ash, you really don't associate with your kind much, do you?"
She shook her head and replied, "You are a bunch of bloodthirsty bastards, tis why." She was defensive and knew it, but she didn't care one bit.
Hunters studied her thoughtfully and replied, "You were changed in an unpleasant manor, were you not?"
Ash gritted her teeth, blocking the memories the other vampire was bringing up. She snarled, "Aye, you could say that."
"How?" he asked in a kind, soothing tone.
"Tis not important," she answered grimly, looking away from his silvery-blue eyes.
He caught her wrist and smiled kindly at her. He said, "Ash, I am offering you the world here. You could indulge me this, please."
She shrugged and answered, taking an unneeded sigh, "Tis a long and painful story. Let us just say that more than vampirism was forced on me, milord." Ash looked out of the window at the crescent moon. She wanted to avoid this subject all together. It had been 339 years since she had been changed, but the memories of how she was subjected to this new life were still fresh in her mind. As were they always would be.
"No wonder you went after the drunken man in the ally," Hunters said, everything dawning to him.
She shrugged and said, "Tis part of that."
"What about the Slayer?" he asked with a demonic grin.
She smiled and replied, honestly, "The challenge and the hunt, milord, along with the feeling of power."
He smiled at her and said, "You enjoy power. Excellent. Let me introduce you to the Circle."
Ash straitened up the skirt of the dress that Hunters had given her. She said, "Lead the way."
They walked into a dim lit room. Candle light cut into sharp relief the five other vampires' faces in the room.
* * *
"Ash, Ash, are you okey?" Umbra asked as Ash gazed thoughtfully out to the Los Angeles skyline.
She was snapped back into reality and answered, "Yeah, just peachy."
"Good, Hunters called us for a meeting," Umbra needlessly reminded her.
"Yay," Ash replied cheerlessly.
As the elevator brought them up to the conference room, Umbra asked, "What were you thinking about? Some huge, graphic fantasy with our latest to-be conquest?" The vampiric witch's tone was teasing, but Ash could only smile in return. There was no witty pun on the tip of her tongue, just silence.
"I'm sorry about Jaquline," Umbra told her softly as the elevator hummed to a stop and they stepped off of it.
Ash shrugged and looked at the mirror surface on the door. They didn't cast a refection, which, despite a very long time to get use to it, didn't bother Ash. It did now. Without realizing it, she reached out and touched the shimmery surface that didn't bear her reflection.
Umbra looked at her quizzically and asked, "Missing your reflection?"
Ash nodded as she withdrew her fingers. Umbra shook her head and replied, "It's one of the small prices we have to pay for immortality. Besides, you're beautiful no matter what you do."
Ash looked at the petite witch and smiled. Umbra was beautiful in her own right. Small, pixie like, exotic with her pitch black hair streaked with brilliant blue and her huge bright blue eyes. Umbra lifted a perfectly manicured eyebrow and spun around, her long ebony skirts fairing behind her. Ash rolled her eyes as she followed the witch down the hall.
* * *
Ash felt four pairs of eyes on her, as well as one pale blue one. Damon drawled, "Hello Ash."
Ash ignored him as she and Umbra sat down at the round table. Hunters said to her, "Ash, it's good to see you again."
Ash looked up at him and replied, "It's only been a day. Geez, you act like I'm a human girl that needs codling. Damn it, I'm a vampire, and I don't need babysitting." The words sounded sure, but, inside, Ash was very unsure.
Jennifer pushed back strands of her dark blond hair and said, "Sorry about Jaquiline. I knew she was you're most trusted servant." Her voice was pitting, like a child comforting another child about losing a puppy. Ash's hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Jennifer rarely pulled the child routine off, which made her even more frightening. You see this twelve year old girl dressed in baggie jeans, Airwalks, and a "Dragon Ball Z" T-shirt who's talking like some two thousand year old fiend. That was creepy, and Jennifer knew it. But, it was even more frightening when she pulled off the child routine to for a moment before switching to "bite mode."
Dais said, "Ash, Jaquiline was a fine warrior, I shall miss her."
"Goody," Ash grumbled, sending a glance from Irons.
Irons shrugged and said, "One of our own was killed, life goes on." Ash smiled, there was always a wisdom to Irons' words. He was just brilliant like that.
* * *
London, England
1339 Ash felt the five pairs of eyes on her. She looked at the other members of the Circle. Hunters smiled and wrapped his hands around her shoulders as he presented her to the group. He said, "This is Ash."
Ash was puzzled to find a twelve-year-old girl looking up at her with sullen grey eyes. The girl said, "Why is she joining the Circle?" Her voice was harsh and bitter, full of hatred and anger.
Ash glared at her. Hunters asked, "She will be the next Hunter, tis why, Little One."
Little One bristled to her full height, which wasn't much, and sneered, "Do not call me ‘Little One', and why is she becoming the next Hunter?"
Ash wasn't going to be intimidated by a vampire in a twelve-year old's body. She walked up and snarled, "I've killed six Slayers, tis why, you demon spawn."
"Six Slayers, impressive," the child fiend replied mockingly.
An attractive woman with long chestnut brown hair stood up. She said in a thick Scottish accent, "Jennifer, be still." She smiled at Ash and said, "I am Patricia, the Witch."
Ash smiled at her and held out her hand. A garnet ring just like Hunters gleamed on her hand. Ash replied, "Tis a pleasure to meet you."
Patricia smiled, warm golden brown eyes twinkling, and said, "The pleasure is all mine. Anyone who has slain six Slayers should be respected."
Ash smiled and beamed at the comment. Patricia smiled and said, "I have no problems with her joining the Circle."
A tall man dressed in all black with almost white hair and a patch over one eye stood up. He looked over Ash with his one good eye and said, "I have no problems with her as well."
The other two vampires said something similar to that. Jennifer said, "I just like being difficult, so, I have a problem with her joining."
Patricia hissed, "You brat, you are just saying that out of spite. I shall cast a hex on you one day."
Jennifer smiled and cryptically replied, "You have seen what I can do, Patty, so do you really want to fight against that sort of power?"
Ash didn't understand her meaning, but Patricia angrily glared. Hunters cleared his throat and said, "Well, Ash is accepted into the Circle."
Patricia smiled and said, "Welcome."
* * *
Patricia raised up the silver, jewel encrusted knife. The Elemental Blade, or something similar to that, was what it was called. Ash watched her in amazement as she brought the blade down into the Glamor's chest. She watched as Patricia worked skillfully to cut the beautiful demon's heart out.
The blood had no effect on Ash, in fact, it was making her loose her appetite more than anything. Patricia brought the bloody organ for Ash to see. Ash eyed it distastefully and asked, "Praytell, why do you want the heart of a Glamor?"
Patricia put the bloody knife on the table, the silver and gems gleamed up at her. Ash watched as the witch placed the heart in a large glass jar. Patricia answered, "You shall never know when you might need some obscure part or item."
Ash looked around at the various items that Patricia had kept in her laboratory. She had killed the demon herself out of amusement and that it was feeding off a young girl. Hunters, the vampiric purest that he was, was pleased with the kill. Dais was slightly impressed and Jennifer had given Ash a distasteful snort. Good for the demon spawn.
Ash looked around and gestured to the spell casting supplies with her hand. She asked, "What is all this for?"
Patricia smiled and answered, "You are so impatient. You are still young in comparison to myself or the others, with the exception of Dais."
Ash shrugged and replied, "Witchcraft, I like things I can touch and fell with my hands."
Patricia laughed and said, "You are unlearned. Did your sire teach you anything?"
Ash stiffened at the mention of that bastard. She said, "I would rather burn for an eternity in Hell than to spend anytime with that son of a pox-filled whore."
Patricia's rich brown eyes widened. She moved closer to Ash and said, "You do not know the joys of being one with the night."
"I do not grow old, I am always beautiful, and I can defeat any opponent that comes in my way," Ash told her simply.
Patricia smiled and said, "Well, dear lass, it is time to teach thee on the finer points of vampirism."
* * *
Ash sipped from the gleaming gold chalice. It was filled with fresh blood and spiked with a splash of wine. Ash was enjoying the decay of the elixir. Patricia was drinking a similar substance. She had given Ash a beautiful ice blue gown to wear, made of fine velvet along with a crown of silver and jewels to wear on top of her head. Ash hated the garment and finery. She liked darkness. Dark colors like red, black and navy blue. Not this pale concoxion she was wearing.
Patricia said, "Our kind is timeless. We can do whatever we wish and nothing shall stop us."
Ash would take those words for thought from that point on.
Patricia was a wise and wonderful teacher. Ash adored her. She was like the mother she always dreamed of, but never had. Until that fateful night.
* * *
Paris, France
1400
Ash and Patricia walked the dark streets arm and arm. The Circle had moved to Paris for a short time, mainly because Marcus, the Seducer, had some business to finish here. The pair had just fed, and Ash was perfectly happy.
Patricia, on the other hand, was worried as hell.
Ash asked her, "Mayhap, what is the matter?"
Patricia smoothed the plum skirts of her gown and shrugged. She answered, "Something is amiss here. I've heard rumors that a Slayer lurks here."
Ash chuckled, she killed Slayers for pleasure. They were a challenge, but nothing Ash couldn't handle. She reassured her friend, "Dear Patricia, do not fret. If a Slayer shows her head, I shall take care of it."
Then, a wooden crossbow bolt embedded itself into Patricia's chest. Right through the heart. Patricia exploded in a scream and a cloud of ash. Ash watched in disbelief as the ashes that were her friend float to the ground. Then, she looked up.
There was a young teenage girl looking down at her from a rooftop, with a crossbow held steadily in her hands. She aimed at Ash and fired. Ash dodged the bolt, growled and stood up. Her friend was dead, and the Slayer was going to pay.
She dodged another few bolts before she charged at the girl. The girl's eyes widened as Ash leapt to her rooftop in one fluid motion. Ash snarled, "Little bitch. You'll die."
The Slayer aimed her crossbow. She said in a soft voice, "I am the Slayer, vampire. You shall die."
Ash slapped the child's crossbow out of her hands. She loomed over the little girl. She sneered, "You do not know what you are dealing with, girl."
The Slayer got up and started to run, jumping off the rooftop. In one fluid motion, Ash followed her and picked up the chase. She could hear the girl's blood pounding in her vains as she ran. Ash growled, letting her face changed.
She watched as the girl rounded to a corner. Ash grinned. She knew where she was going, and, turning in an ally of her own, Ash was going to be waiting for the Slayer.
The small girl bumped into Ash's chest. Ash smiled as she grabbed the girl and sank her fangs deep into that artery that pulsed blood beneath the surface. The Slayer struggled, Ash pulled on her hair, hurting the girl and showing her strength over her.
Ash drank the coppery, sweet liquid slowly then let the Slayer's body drop to the ground with a wet thud. She growled deep in her throat. The brat had killed her closest friend. Slayers beware, Ash was going to claim her vengeance.
* * *
Ash tapped her fingers on the concrete table and frowned. Hunters said, "You are probably wondering why I had summoned you here. With the Angelus situation . . ."
"Angel," Jennifer interrupted, "He likes to be called Angel."
"Angel situation," Hunters corrected, putting emphasis on Angel's name. He went on, "It is time for the Circle to rise and dominate."
"What the hell do you mean?" Ash asked, half fearful, and half knowing what he was going to say. She knew Hunters too well. She knew how he thought, how he acted, and how he planed. She also knew his skills in the bedroom, but that was a story for another time and another place. Besides, he wasn't that great, not compared to some of the men that Ash had been with.
Hunters smiled at her and said, "The world shall be ours."
Fear coiled up in Ash's gut, hard, cold and fast. The world, taken over by the Circle, damn. It would be great for the first couple months, then it would get boring. She could imagine it. Hunts would be choreographed for no chance of the humans to escape. Humans would be bread like cattle to suit the vampire's purposes, and demons would be slaughtered by the hundreds. Not that the last part was nessarily a bad thing, but the rest of it was.
Jennifer smiled and replied, "I'm up for world domination."
Dais stood up and laid a black metal dagger on the table. The blade mocked Ash from where she sat, annoyed her. He said in his grave voice, "It was only time before we made the bid for our ascendence."
Irons was quiet. There was something going on in the depths of his dark eyes. Ash wanted to know what he was thinking, but she wasn't going to push it. Damon smiled and said, "Hell yeah."
Umbra grinned wickedly and said, "This was the whole reason I joined the Circle."
Ash looked at her in askance and asked, "I thought you joined the Circle because I saved your life?"
* * *
Madrid, Spain
1401
Ash heard commotion in the town square. Something about a witch who drank blood being burned. She watched as the crowd formed into a mob and set up a stake with firewood all around it. A man in a black mask held a torch in his gauntleted hand. Ash watched as the townsmen drug a small young woman with long ebony hair to the stake.
She was struggling fiercely, and Ash caught a glimpse of her ridged features and golden eyes. A vampire. They tied her to the stake.
The gallows man shouted, "This devil's spawn is accused of heresy, witchcraft, consorting with the Dark Angel, Lucifer himself, and drinking the blood of innocents. How do you plead, Witch?"
The witch shouted, "Burn in hell, you bastard! You cannot hold me! You will not kill me tonight, I have seen it in my visions!" She smiled, flashing her fangs and said, "I am guilty of everything you said, except consorting with Lucifer." She paused. "I do have my standards."
"Light the fire!" the executioner cried. He dropped the torch on the kindling. Ash ran through the crowd, her face transforming as she jumped in front of the gallows man.
She gave a look to the witch. They had not found a witch yet to replace Patricia. This girl would suffice. She shouted, "Join me, or you shall die!" Ash planned to save the witch anyway, but this was just insurance.
"I will follow you to Hell and back," the witch cried back as the flames caught her dress.
Ash smiled and grabbed the executioner. His neck snapped in one fluid motion as she grabbed the ropes. The slightly charred witch fell into Ash's arms. Ash told her, "Keep your promise."
She looked down at Ash's ring and smiled. They ran off into the night with an angry mob after their pretty heads.
* * *
Umbra smiled and replied, "Well, I had been searching for you at the time. I just ran into some . . . unfortunate luck on the way."
Ash raised her eyebrow, nodded, grinned and said, "Mmmhimm, sure ya did." In truth, she felt partially responsible for her friend. She silently prayed to some higher power that the witch who had seen that vision was on some drug trip. She hoped it wouldn't happen.
Jennifer played with the black onyx beads that she wore around her left wrist. She had a matching bracelet made out of blood red carnelians on her right wrist. The beads symbolized something, what, Ash didn't know, or really cared to know. She asked, "So, what's the plan?"
Hunters smiled and looked at Irons and Umbra. He said, "I'm sorry *ma Faye*, I forgot to let you in on this one." *Ma Faye* meant "my fairy." Jennifer did have an elfin, pixie-like appearance to her, but in her eyes there was something else. She could see right through someone and tell them all their fears and darkest secrets with a smile on her elfin features. Jennifer scowled and crossed her arms, saying nothing.
Dais asked, "So, what is the plan?"
Hunters answered with a smile, "A combination of things, really. Magic, might, power and logic. We shall make ourselves invulnerable."
Jennifer asked, "Wait a second, you mean we can't *die*?"
That sounded really good to Ash. She smiled at that. Hunters answered, "Yes, Jennifer, no crosses will turn us away, garlic will not offend us, sunlight shall not char us, Holy Water shall not blister us, fire shall not burn us, and staking and beheading shall not kill us."
"Holy shit," Ash murmured. She looked over at Umbra and Umbra just smiled.
Umbra said, "Hunters has been keeping touch we me on occasion, asking for certain spells and artifacts of powers."
Irons spoke, "And I've been searching for the same thing, as well as weaknesses and flaws within the demonic societies. Now is the time where the world is ripe for the picking. The humans rule everything blissfully unaware of us."
Damon smiled and whistled, "Holy hell. Damn, this is going to be great."
Dais smiled and said, "The world will finally be ours."
Ash looked up. No damned propocy was gonna stop her. She was use to making her own luck, and had been for more than a thousand years. She was going to bring Angel into the Circle, and he would rule at her side.
She smiled and said, "I'm in. World domination will be fun." She kicked her legs up on the table. She said, "First thing's first, I'm gonna have to get Angel."
"How?" Dais asked, eager for a fight.
"I'm gonna bring him here myself," Ash simply answered.
* * *
Angel could sense that someone was following him as he walked. He recognized the presence. It was Ash. He slowed down, turned around and looked for her. She was standing at the entrance to an ally. Waiting for him.
Angel rolled his eyes and wondered what kind of mind games she was going to try on him this time. He walked to her. She walked into the ally. She leaned up against the far wall and looked up at the sky.
She sighed. Angel watched her. She said, "Hi Angel."
"Hello Ash," he answered in response as he watched her.
She smiled at him. Under that cocky exterior, she looked uncertain. Why? She said, her voice not as confident as before, "I'm going to take you with me."
Angel asked her, "How come you don't sound too sure about that, Ash?"
Ash's eyes narrowed at him. She stood up strait and slid out of her leather jacket. She took up a stance and replied, "Prepare to defend yourself, Angel."
Angel took up a stance himself and waited for Ash to make her move. He didn't have to wait long. She was quick and graceful. He blocked her roundhouse kick and snapped her leg to the ground. She spun around and swept his legs out from underneath of him.
Angel fell to the ground, but he was back up in an instant. He gave Ash a hard right cross. She was snapped back from the blow. Angel took advantage of the moment and grabbed her around the waist. He had used this move on Buffy before; he flipped the other vampire over his shoulder and to the ground.
Ash flipped back up, catching Angel in the face with her boots. Angel stumbled back away from her. Blood welled up at his mouth from where she had kicked. Angel wiped it off with the back of his hand. Ash's chest was heaving as she watched him.
She was making no move to attack. Angel watched her icy blue eyes. There was something odd about them. Not the color, Angel had seen countless people with icy blue eyes before, but the expression. It was something that a vampire shouldn't have. Humanity.
That was the only way he could explain the look in her eyes. He couldn't kill her. No, he knew that now. There was something else to her that he was going to learn. Something was wrong with her, she wasn't like any other vampire he'd faced. She was more human. Why? Angel didn't know. But he did know that he couldn't kill her, and she wasn't going to kill him. Or capture him, or whatever she had planned for him.
"Damn it!" she cried as she fled out of the ally. Angel watched her go. She ran through the people, actually being very careful that she wasn't hitting anyone. Curiouser and Curiouser.
Angel walked to where she had dropped her jacket. He picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. What was so different about her? He was just going to have to find out.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
