The touch was gentle, almost lover-like. The way his finger slid along her cheek with a sweetness of caress could have made her knees tremble. Lord knows, if he had been any other man with a face like his and a body to match, her knees would have turned to jelly.
Not for him, though. Never for him. Not for the monster that had slain the Slayer.
"You're trembling." He observed with a soft chuckle, taking another step closer. The tree behind her offered a great barrier, but a lousy escape. He knew this all to well, as did his cohorts, all blatantly displaying their game faces as they watched their new Master.
"Let me go." Cordelia whispered, desperately trying to fight back tears. "You got your Slayer? just let me go. Why kill me?"
Angelus shrugged. "Because it's fun?" He replied whimsically. "Or because it's what vampires do. We kill people. The fun is a bonus side effect of the killing." He informed her confidentially.
Fondly, he stroked his finger down her cheek again, sliding along down her exposed neck. There was no doubt in his mind that this modern age, this century where women had come into their own, was definitely his favorite. The last time he'd been free to hunt, to enjoy the kill, women had worn so many garments that it was doubtful they even had a neck. If he had to list the most significant and wonderful invention of the millennia? it was v-necks for women. That and delivery boys.
"You're all part of my great plan." He murmured softly. "I'm going to kill everything that Buffy protected, tear it to little bitty pieces, and then I'm going to give Buffy back her soul? just like those gypsy's did me."
He leaned closer, practically whispering in Cordelia's ear. His return to Sunnydale had felt much like the Royal Prince returning to claim his crown. With the Master dead, slain by Buffy; and his own sire destroyed, at his ensouled hands, there was no other vampire of his lineage fit to take control of the Master's domain. No one, that was, other than Angelus himself.
The first order of business had been ousting Spike from his position of authority, and then taking Dru back. After all, every great Master needed one psychotic femme to satisfy their needs. Angelus had spent years breaking Druscilla before vamping her, years of tormenting her, teasing her, torturing her and destroying her mind before she was ready for her role as his slave.
Spike, however, hadn't fit into his plans at all. Why Dru had taken that boy into her black heart was quite beyond Angelus. Spike actually cherished his psycho-sire. He protected her, nurtured her and encouraged her to think on her own. Thinking was NOT one of Dru's strong points, and was not appropriate for a lady of her position. That position being, of course, on her back.
It didn't matter, he mused, watching the tears gather in the pretty brunette friend of Buffy's eyes. Druscilla was back where she belonged - under his control, and Spike was a cripple restrained in a wheel chair after one fight too many with Buffy. The fool simply lacked the right - temperament - to successfully kill Buffy. The key to Buffy's destruction wasn't by fighting her; it was by loving.
"Say goodnight, sweetheart." He murmured. "If you're very lucky, your little boy-toy will be the one to find your nice dead body."
The girl's eyes were huge and horrified. Angelus chuckled, and enjoyed listening to his minions, HIS own minions, anticipatory murmurs. This kill represented the dawning of a new age. A time in which vampires hunted on the mortals openly and with impunity.
They clustered tightly, all eyes fixed on their master's victim. In various shapes and sizes, they all had the same look - hungry. At the center of the congregation, Angelus pressed Cordelia's chin up. It amused him, the way she looked steadfastly past his shoulder as if the moon hanging high in the sky could help her.
His dark head bent and his mouth brushed her neck. She froze; a startled gasp escaping her lips. "See, even dying can have some good moments."
"Or not." An iron grip yanked on his shoulder, heaving his body away from Cordelia's before he could react. In fact, he wasn't able to identify he was being assaulted until a heeled foot slammed into his stomach, dropping him to his knees.
He rolled before the next hit could arrive, throwing his body backward into a reversed somersault. His people were gone, piles of dust littered the ground around Cordelia like a chalk circle. Growling angrily, he smoothly stood crouching slightly in his readiness to fight for his meal. "You're no Slayer!" He growled at the teenage girl in front of him. She was tiny, a slender wraith with red hair, without the healthy glow or strength of a Slayer.
"Really." Willow replied drily. "Go figure." There was no point in taking a fighting stance. She wasn't Buffy, or the new Slayer, Claire. Besides, any time now, Angelus' memories would kick in and provide a ---
"I know you!" He reacted as if in sync to Willow's thoughts. "You're that girl? the one I was with in Belgium? Willow!"
Willow smirked. As much as Angelus wanted to say the soul was destroyed it was clear that Angel still lurked deep inside, hiding crucial pieces of information about who and what she was from the demon. "Very good. Can I kill you now?" She drawled, in a perfect imitation of Buffy's indifference for vampiric chit-chatter.
Angel and Buffy had been quite the pair, Willow mused seconds later, after the vampire's initial attack. If you taunted them, they both lunged. The difference was, despite the Slayer's added strength, the fledgling Willow had killed earlier lacked the fighting knowledge of Angelus. Angelus had battled with several Slayers in the course of his existence and he understood how to think like both the predator and the prey.
A feint, a dodge, a punch and a kick all completed the cycle of their fight. She feinted, he dodged, he punched and she kicked before they switched and he led the dance with a feint. It made for mindless entertainment that would pass the course of the night.
Once the sun came up, Angelus would be dusted and Willow could go back into reclusive protection of the child-Slayer. It was a simple plan, lacking drama and sophistication, but the simplest plans were often the most successful.
Of course, this was all conditional on that Cordelia had run to safety and that Spike was observing his promise to touch no one. Cordelia hadn't been a friend to Willow, but she had become one to Buffy. Just as Buffy would have fought for Cordy's life, Willow returned the favour in memory of her friend.
Angelus spun. It was a new tactic from the dance, startling Willow from the rhythm she'd fallen into. Twisting his body with speed, his booted foot raced for her head. Willow didn't think, she reacted, letting her own inhuman instincts toss her body backward, hands hitting the ground to throw her back upright and onto the top of a park bench. "Not nice." She complained blandly. "I washed my hair this morning, and I do NOT need boot marks in it."
Angelus snarled.
It was unfortunate that she had to destroy him. Angel had been a wonderful friend to Willow in the years after the Anointed One had changed her. He bolstered her spirits, coerced her will to live and badgered her incessantly. More than that, he'd gradually brought fun back into her life. Romping around Belgium and seeing all the historic sights had truly been one of the happiest times in both their lives. Finding out what had changed him, what had banished his soul and restored the demon's control was one of the things she hoped to find out in Sunnydale.
If it could happen to Angel then it could happen to her.
Cordelia's scream destroyed Willow's peace of mind. It altered everything inside of a single second. Flipping over Angelus, she turned towards his back and gained a clear line of sight towards the source of the scream. 'Damn. More flunky's.'
They clustered around the girl, licking their lips like a pack of wolves presented with a very juicy lamb. After all this time living on the Hellmouth, Willow would have thought Cordelia Chase had more sense than to stand spectator to a vampiric fight.
It went to show some things never changed.
She jumped, latching onto Angel's back like a child stealing a piggy-back ride. "Sorry." She apologized without feeling. "I didn't mean to make this so short." Angelus screamed as her fangs pierced his neck, her fingers clawing into his chest like anchors.
It had the desired effect. The flunkies forgot Cordy and ran to help their Master.
Angel twisted wildly, trying to buck the girl on his back like a bronco to a cowboy. Furiously he slammed his back into a tree, feeling Willow's body slam harder against his as he pounded her into the rough wood. She didn't let go, nor did she let up as she drained the precious blood from his veins.
He felt the strength leaving him even as two of his people arrived. Willow didn't even look up. She shifted her weight so one knee pressed painfully into the small of his back, and the other lashed out to kick one vampire. Smoothly, she shifted the position to do the same to the vampire on the other side.
Then, and only then, did she look up, licking her lips as she smiled. "No fighting." She chastised the two vampires as they jumped to their feet, her voice was seductively husky. Clearly, she found the vampiric blood intoxicating. "I'll drain you next, anyway."
Angel took the opportunity to grab her arms. He threw his own body into a roll, halting when she was on her back. Twisting, he fell on top of her, his gameface snarling down into her serene child-like expression. Savagely, he bit her, stealing back blood for the blood she took. In some senses, it was an almost sexual act, when vampires fed from one another. However, in this manner, it was savage brutality.
Unfortunately, he gagged on the taste of her blood, spitting it from his mouth like it was a known poison. Willow arched her back, struggling to find purchase by which to toss him. His weight, however, was too much given that she had little leverage to work with.
"What ARE you!" Angelus growled down at her, his hands pining her shoulders back. "You're not?"
"A vampire. Exactly." Willow supplied helpfully. "Angel and I had this very discussion many, many times before. I guess you're not all that much in control after all."
The vampire in him, the demon that controlled the body didn't like that at all. Lifting one hand off her shoulder, his elbow caught back and his hand curled into a fist. It wasn't much of an opportunity, but it gave Willow an opening.
The stake she had restored into her jacket sleeve was now extracted. His heart was protected by the angle she lay in relation to his position. However, it didn't much matter. A chest was a chest, and wood hurt no matter where it was imbedded.
Much like any other vampire she had killed, the stake had the desired effect on Angelus. He rolled off her clutching at his breast in pain. Already weakened by her bite, the stake was icing on the cake. "That went nicely." Willow murmured, brushing grass off of her sleeve before approaching the howling demon.
Savagely, she reached down and tugged the stake out, lifting it back in preparation for a rapid decent into his dead heart.
"STOP!" The voice howled from behind, thick, harsh and animalistic. "Or they die!"
A slight turn of her head, and Willow felt her easy defeat of Angelus fall flat. In ten years working alongside Buffy, had the Slayerettes learned anything? As much as it touched her heart to see both their faces, why didn't they have the sense to grab Cordelia and clear out? "Oh Giles? Xander." She sighed, disappointed.
The four vampires holding the three people like blackmail photos knew they had the upper hand. "Let Angelus go." The ringleader said. "Now."
She dropped Angelus like he was a hot potato, setting her steps towards the foursome. It took some doing, but she managed not to look at Xander or Giles after that initial glance. Ten years ago, she had sworn Xander would never see her like this. He would never see that his best bud had become as much a killer as the vampires that had destroyed her.
Looking at the disgust in his face would only bring home how far she had fallen.
The vamps were looking at one another, clearly indecisive about their next step. In their need to communicate options, they forgot to pay close attention to their hostages. Both men had hung around the Slayer long enough to know escape tactics.
Xander's heel slammed into the foot of the vampire holding him, while Giles rammed his elbow into the solar plexis of his captor. Cordelia used her best weapon. She screamed, shrilly, making the unsuspecting vampire jump.
All in all, it made for a wonderful distraction. Willow threw herself at the vampire still clutching loosely at Cordelia. Snarling openly, she staked him within seconds, before turning and taking out the next vampire. Xander and Giles tackled one, successfully staking him, and that left just one more for Willow.
This one was strong, and big. In Willow's haste to remove two vampires, she had swung a little wide on recovery, and he had successfully extracted and tossed aside her stake. "That's my favorite stake." She grumbled, kicking him in the groin. "If I loose it because of you?"
He tossed her back, ramming her into a stone monument that marked the commemorative opening of the park. It hurt, but not unbearably. Twisting, Willow managed to use his next ramming against him, so that he threw his own body weight and his head into the stone. It had the desired effect of stunning him.
"I need a stake." She shouted to Giles. "Now would be good."
The vampire swiped at her, with one hand curled into a claw. Willow swung clear, dodging his blows, but keeping him away from anything or anyone he could use against her. The only other way she could destroy him, without a stake, would be to drain him as she had tried to do to Angel. The thought of doing that while people watched disgusted her.
"Giles!" Her call was a warning, an urge to hurry. "Today, please!"
The sound of the explosion rocked her before she had time to realize that the vampire she was fighting was gone. It took several blinks before here eyes cleared and she looked up to see Spike standing in front of her, with her stake fisted in the same place that the vampire had been before. "Hullo, again, luv."
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