Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Angel or Buffy characters they are owned by Joss Whedon and 20th Century Fox. Lilith and her posse are my creation, based on numerous legends. E-mail me at slayerbrat@yahoo.com for any comments.
The Coming of Lilith
Part One
Doyle was afraid. He was terrified. He looked down at the gathered vampires, they were young, the oldest had only been dead for only ten years. That didn't scare him, it was why they were gathering that scared him. He prayed that it was only a rumor.
One of the vampires said, "Did you hear about that body they fount on 22nd Street. It was ripped to shreds by one of us. Like a damn piece of meat or something. Like his head was bit off or something."
Doyle crept away before it was too late. If the vampires fount him, it wasn't gonna be pretty. They would slowly kill him because he helped Angel.
Doyle was in the Private Eye office within minutes. Cordelia Chase waved at him and said, "Angel's gone out for a few minutes. There was like a body fount or something."
Doyle cursed and turned to leave the office. Angel might be over his head this time.
Angel stood in the shadows, his natural habitat. He was waiting for the police to clear so he could look at the body. Then he remembered that he had every right to look at this body as they did. He was a private investigator, so he had certain rights. He walked out of the shadows and over to the body.
Some of the homicide detectives recognized him and nodded respectfully at him. Angel didn't know them but he nodded anyway, especially at the pretty, brunette officer. She blushed slightly before she bent back over her notebook.
The corner was scraping a Q-tip over the pavement, getting a slight bloody residue. He looked down at the body and grimaced.
The poor gangster had been ripped to shreds. There were fang marks on his neck, what was left of it, signaling that his attacker was a vampire. But this vampire had some fun. They had scratched bloody furrows in his chest and licked the wounds clean. Ripped the fine veins out of their wrist. This vampire had a party.
"Oh my god," came Doyle's voice behind him. Angel turned to see the demon turning green around the edges of his light trench coat. The sight didn't faze Angel. He had done things worse than this, not much, but some.
Angel turned to look back at the body. He knelt down to get a closer look. Doyle said, "Angel I know who did this."
Angel looked up a Doyle and asked, "Okay then, who did this?"
Doyle swallowed and answered, "Lilith."
Angel shook his head. Lilith was a myth and he told Doyle this.
Doyle shook his head and replied, "No, she's not. She's come to L.A. for some reason."
Angel stood up, towering over Doyle. He shoved his hands into his duster pockets and asked, "What do you mean?"
Doyle crossed his arms and tried to glare at him. Angel knew it was very hard to glare at someone who was a full head taller than they were. Doyle said, "I've heard things, Angel, something's going down."
Angel shrugged and said, "Maybe it's some other master vampire trying to lay his claim over the city. Like Lothos. And probably he'll end up dying like Lothos did."
Lothos was a powerful vampire made during the middle ages. He had come to Los Angeles when Buffy was called. Angel had watched her kill her first vampire, he had wanted to help, but he couldn't. Soon after that Whistler had taken him to Sunnydale and trained him to try to lead a better life in hopes that he might help the young girl.
But he wasn't supposed to fall in love with her, or at least, she fall in love with him. Angel knew, in the deepest corners of his soul that their story wasn't over yet, and that was part of the reason he hadn't said good bye. Good byes were final. Disappearing in the shadows and smoke wasn't. He knew he would see her again.
He also knew that if they did start seeing other people, which he hoped Buffy was, they would always love each other. It was a cruel joke on Fate's part. He was cursed in every way imaginable: love, life, and death.
As Doyle had told him when Angel wanted to hide from everything in L.A., "To save yourself, you must save them."
And Angel was. His way. If a person couldn't be saved, he broke their neck. He killed demons his own way. He didn't have to worry about some mortal being ashamed that he had torched a warehouse filled with vampires and their demon lord. Or about snapping some punk's neck instead of letting the "proper" authorities handle them.
"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?" Doyle asked.
Angel shrugged as if he was saying, "Yeah, so what?" Doyle shook his head.
Angel then asked, "What about Lilith?"
Doyle answered, "I know she's real, but the rumor is that's she's here."
"In the City of Demons," Angel added, using his nickname for the City of Angels.
Doyle nodded. Angel said, "Okay then, I'll go find her."
"You dinna know what she looks like," Doyle said crossly. Angel knew that sometimes his pissed Doyle off with his cryptic answers.
Angel shrugged and said, "She's the oldest vampire. I don't think that would be too hard to find."
He remembered how hideously deformed that the Master was. Lilith would probably be worse. Then to anger Doyle even more, he disappeared into the shadows.
Doyle stood there angry at Angel. The brooding vampire sure knew how to push one's buttons. Sometimes Doyle thought that Angel ticked him off just because the vampire fount it amusing. Next time Doyle saw Whistler he was going to hit him.
Doyle frowned, he was too inexperienced for Angel. The vampire was too old, too smart and too stubborn. Angel might have lost his Irish accent along time ago but he still had the temper to go with it.
Angel parked his car and stepped out of it. He would get farther on foot if he was searching for Lilith, if she was indeed real. He didn't believe it. He walked down the street, all of his senses fully alert.
He heard a shrill scream coming from a near by ally. He ran into it when the screams suddenly stopped. He saw the body of a young homeless man sprawled on the filthy pavement. His eyes were frozen open in surprise.
Angel noticed the two large puncture wounds on his neck, still faintly trickling blood. He breathed the scent of a fresh kill, memories flooding his mind. Angel approached the body. He knelt by it and smelled the same scent that was on the mutilated body.
"Remarkable how fast they die, isn't it?" Angel looked up to see a tall, slender young woman standing before him.
She was beautiful, with long pale, blond hair that fell past her slender waist. Her face was perfectly formed. Her large eyes were a shade of greyish blue. Then, they changed to violet. She was wearing all black. S&M leather. A tight leather corset that hardly covered her pale chest, not leaveing much to the imagination.
She licked her blood stained hand and watched Angel, her now green eyes were slightly amused. She said, "A Palladian, a holy knight. Go ahead vampire hunter, try to take me out. It would be a shame to kill someone as good looking as you, though." Her voice was hypnotically seductive. Angel ignored it.
He stood to his full height and shoved his hands into his pockets. She had to be Lilith. He asked, "Lilith I presume?"
She tilted her head in answer and said, "Very good my boy."
Angel watched her, not sure of what she was going to do. It just seemed like she was trying to bluff him right now. She looked at him and asked, "Where is your sword?"
"What?" He wasn't sure he heard her right.
Lilith sighed and crossed her arms. Her eyes were the rich dark blue of the night sky. Angel was on full alert, he could sense the power rateateing off the first vampire. The girl who had feed off the blood of a demon, and continued to feed and mix her blood with others.
She replied, "You holy vampire hunter types ususaly wear huge silver crucifies and carry swords made of the same metal to kill me. I've seen and killed countless numbers of your type, child."
Angel couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. She didn't know that he was a vampire. The Dark Mother didn't know what he was. Lilith drifted closer to him, her heels clanking on the pavement.
She said, "Paladins, Templars, they are one and the same. They quote the Bible and curse me before I kill them. Some of them I have changed, they run with me now."
Angel tensed up, he could feel power building in Lilith. She snapped her fingers. Angel saw the wave of scarlet energy momentarily before it threw him into some garbage cans.
She threw another wave of power at him without even blinking. This time it seared his skin like fire. He snarled and stood up. He felt his face change as he looked up at the elder demoness.
Lilith blinked once in surprise and said, "You're a vampire."
Angel snarled at her. He saw the splinters of an old wooden fence. He could impale Lilith on one of them and it would be over. He charged at her, she moved easily moved out of the way.
She laughed and Angel felt magical manicals holding him in place. She made a slight motion with her hand and he was drug over to her. He struggled as her icy fingers traced his face. He didn't want this demon witch to touch him.
She grabbed his chin and yanked his face toward hers to make eye contact. Angel felt the flesh of his face return back to normal without his concentration. Lilith was doing it. He tilted his head up so Lilith couldn't look into his eyes.
He could feel her power like an inferno. It charged all around her and threw him right now. It frightened Angel. But he wasn't about to let the demoness see that.
She pulled his face toward hers. Angel squeezed his eyes shut, cursing his helplessness. She said in an awed wonder, "Why, I thought you were only a myth. A bad dream. The Cursed One." Angel flinched as she caressed his face.
"Angel, the souled one. He who killed the wrong girl and paid for it. Once the most feared vampire that had ever lived. Angelus. I had looked for you for a decade during the 1870's, but I never fount you. I wanted you to join my flock," she said.
Angel opened his eyes and sneered, "I would have never joined you." It was the truth. He was his own leader. He never followed, and that had won him the Master's respect, and for along time, a chance to rule at the Master's side before he was cursed.
A long silver finger nail scratched his cheek. He jerked his head back with the stinging pain as blood trickled out of the scratch. Lilith's face was almost touching his right then. She smiled, her beauty only making her seem more frighting.
She said, "You also aided a Slayer. You helped her kill one of my favorite children. You fell in love with her." She was starting to growl as she spoke. She went on, "You made love to her. You slept with our natural enemy."
Angel snarled at her, wanting to rip her throat out for the images she was bringing from his memories. She was reading his mind. Angel was furious at the invasion. She lightly stroked beside the half-healed scratch on his cheek.
She smiled and said, "Then the curse was broken."
Angel was reliving the moments now, and she was making him relive them. She was using some sort of mind control to make him see everything just as if it was happening now. He saw each kill he made, felt the blood running down his throat once more.
She was like the First in her power. Angel shut his eyes, not wanting to see any more. She whispered in his ear, "Come on beg for mercy. I might be willing to listen to your sad, pathetic pleas."
Angel's eyes snapped open. He looked her dead in her now scarlet eyes. His anger replaced his fear and anguish. He snarled, "You better do better than that bitch." Then he slammed his head into hers.
It broke her concentration, the magical chains disappeared. Angel could move freely again. He snarled, letting his face transform into it's more feral features. He grabbed her wrist and jerked her off the ground.
She looked up, and Angel felt her build up her power. When she released it, he braced himself. He tasted a metallic taste in his mouth as the power washed over him. When it was over the air smelled of ozone.
"This isn't over by a long shot Angel," she sneered. Then she turned into mist.
Angel blinked. She could shape shift, great. He felt his face return to normal when he heard someone join him in the ally.
It was Doyle. He asked, "What happened, you look like hell?"
Angel leaned up against one of the buildings and sighed. He told Doyle, "Hell looks a lot worse than I do right now, believe me."
Doyle said, "You met up with Lilith."
Angel nodded.
Doyle said, "And you tried to fight her hand to hand."
Angel nodded again.
"Stupid move. If I told you once, I've told you a thousand times. You canna fight everything physically. You canna beat every thing to a bloody pulp. Not every thing you fight has horns," Doyle repeated the familiar speech. Angel thought he was starting to sound like a parrot.
Angel stood up strait and said, "I'll fight her my own way."
Lilith looked at her minions, vampire and zombie alike. The zombies smelled foul, but they made great cannon fodder. They had made their home in an abandoned warehouse. The light of a thousand candles burned, giving the building an eerie appearance.
Her most trusted minion, a vampire named Damon, approached her. He was good looking with dark hair and hazel eyes. He bowed respectfully to her. Compared to Angel's defiance, all of her paramours looked pale and boring, including Damon.
He asked, "What happened my lady?" She walked over to the scarlet velvet chair that served as her throne. She sat on it and slung her legs over the arm of the chair. He knelt beside her and respectfully kissed her hand. If she wanted him to, he would bare his throat and let her drink from him.
Lilith sighed and answered, "I met this city's protector."
"And you killed him," Damon proclaimed proudly.
She shook her head and remembered how Angel had resisted her mind control. Resisted her. She said, "He was the Cursed One."
Damon shook his head in disbelief. He said, "He is only a legend my lady. He does not exist. A vampire with a human soul, it's not real."
She snarled at him and wrapped her hand and around his neck. She sneered, "He exists, and he will be mine."
Damon choked, "Yes, my Queen."
Lilith pushed him to the ground. She got an idea. Damon was an excellent warrior, and if Angel beat him, he would make an ideal addition to her thrall. She said, "You can redeem yourself by bringing him to me, alive."
He stood up and bowed. He said, "Yes, milady." Then he was off.
"We're being followed," Angel told Doyle. Doyle went to look behind him, but Angel put his hand on Doyle's shoulder to stop him. Angel said, "Never let someone know that you know that they're following you." Doyle nodded.
Angel heard the foot steps come closer. He said, "Doyle hide. I'll be back in a moment." Thankfully Doyle hid. Angel disappeared into the shadows.
He swerved so now he was following his pursuer. His follower was a vampire. He was average height and build. Angel caught up with him and tapped him on the shoulder. The vampire turned around to look at him. Angel grabbed him by his shirt collar and drug him into a nearby ally. That was a good thing about Los Angeles, it had a lot of allys.
Angel smiled as he slammed the vampire into the wall. He said, "Good evening and welcome to the City of Demons. What the hell are you doing hear, and who the hell are you?"
The vampire's face morphed as he snarled, "I am Damon, Lilith's most trusted companion."
Angel punched him with his free hand and said, "So, you're her flunky then."
Damon snarled and grabbed Angel's wrist. Angel slammed his head into the wall and said, "Don't do that."
Damon struggled and snarled, "She wants you, and she will have you."
Angel smiled as he punched Damon twice. It felt good to beat some of his frustration out of the other vampire. Angel knew that sometimes Doyle didn't approve of his methods, but Angel didn't care. Angel quipped, "Well it's good to know that I'm wanted."
Damon snarled and Angel dropped him. The vampire threw a punch and Angel easily blocked it and twisted the other vampire's arm behind his back. Angel smiled as he pushed the vampire into a broken wooden board.
Damon was impaled on the wood. He looked at Angel then back at the board. With a shrill scream, he exploded into yellowish grey ash. Angel shoved his hands into his pockets and said, "Well, Lilith, for someone who's all powerful, you sure have lousy help."
Lilith watched from her zombie's eyes, seeing everything that the creature saw. Angel had dispatched Damon like he wasn't even there. She crossed her arms and smiled. It had been along time since someone had been a challenge.
She shivered in delight. It would be easy enough to kill him, but Lilith didn't want that. It would be the ultimate thrill to enfold him into her thrall, to break him. She smiled. She suddenly had a new purpose.
The Coming of Lilith
Part Two
"Okay, the world's oldest vampire has put up shop here and has a grudge against you," Cordelia said.
Angel nodded as he leaned on his desk. He had told Cordelia basically what she needed to know. Cordelia huffed and snapped, "*Well that's just great!* It would be the oldest and most powerful blood sucker that you had to piss off!"
Angel glared at her. He wanted to put the spoiled little girl in her place. She wasn't the one who fought Lilith. Or fought the other demons and other nastys that came along. He was tempted to give her a wooden steak, place her in a lair of vampires and say, "Well, lets just see how *you* do."
Doyle cleared his throat and said, "She did kill the poor lad, and a homeless person."
Angel nodded in agreement. He said, "So I should stop her before she does any more damage. You can be surprised on how much one vampire can do if she's smart enough." Besides who knew what other monsters she had at her command. He might need help on this one. He inwardly groaned, he didn't want to work with Spike and he wasn't going to put Buffy in danger.
The phone rang and Cordelia picked it up. She said, "Hello, Cordelia Chase, how may I help you?"
Cordelia said, "Okay, he's right here."
She handed him the phone. Angel answered, "Hello?"
"Hey there tall, dark and toothsome." The voice belonged to Fallon Ryan, a police officer who just happened to be a witch, and knew who Angel was.
"Hello Fallon," he wearily replied. He didn't want to play any of Fallon's little games right now. He also didn't like being called tall, dark, and toothsome.
She replied, "You should go to Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, there's something that's very interesting going on."
Angel didn't like the name of that burial ground. He asked, "What's going on Fallon?"
Her voice became slightly frantic as she answered, "Man, it's a necromancer, a very powerful one. I'm watching somebody ravishing the dead right now, and it's not pretty. And they already have a whole slew of dead guys at their command, it's like a f***ing army, man."
Fallon had a *wonderful* way with words. Angel asked, "Are you there? How close are you?"
Fallon chuckled, a light tinkling sound. She answered, "You're gonna be pissed when I tell you this, but, I'm at the pay phone across the street."
"Fallon, don't move and don't let the zombies see you. I'll be there in less than five minutes, keep *safe*," he scolded the witch.
Fallon gave a frightened chuckle as she said, "No damn problem there Big Guy."
"Don't call me that," he said as an automatic reply. Then he said, "Be careful Fallon, I'll be there."
Then he hung up the phone. Cordelia asked, "What did Falle want?"
Angel slipped on his duster and started out the door. He wasn't looking forward to slaying a whole army of zombies, but Fallon was there and she was a witch. He started to walk out of the office, aware that Cordelia and Doyle were following him.
"Eeeeewwww!" Cordelia groaned as Angel pulled the car near the cemetery. It was indeed very disgusting. At least 50 rotting corpses were staggering to the gate while several others were scrambling out of their graves.
A few of the zombies had made it out of the graveyard and were lurching toward a phone booth and the person standing on top of it holding a .44 magnum pistol. A gunshot broke through the quiet sounds of moaning and groaning. The bullet fount it's mark and exploded a zombie's head.
The zombie fell to the ground in a pile of brownish green ooze. Angel watched as the zombies became more numerous and were breaking out of the graveyard. He parked the car and was about to help Fallon when Cordelia screamed.
The girl cried out about almost every little thing and Angel had learned to ignore it. But then Angel saw what Cordelia was looking at.
Doyle gasped, "Oh my god."
A small group of teenagers had made their way to the cemetery, and had just taken notice of the zombies. The bad thing was that the zombies had just taken notice of them.
Angel got out of the car and looked at Cordelia and Doyle. He sharply said, "Stay here." Cordy happily nodded and Doyle was about to say something, but Angel slammed the door to close the argument. In his almost two and a half centuries Angel had learned to deal with people.
The teenagers broke out into a dead run, only to be met up by another group of the walking dead. They were surrounded. Fallon jumped up and down on the phone booth and shouted, "Hey you ugly! Yeah I'm talking to you . . . you big ugly pile of dead shit!"
The zombies payed her no heed as they circled around the group of teenagers. Angel opened his trunk and gazed at the weapons. He picked up an axe that he had confiscated from some demon and a glass bottle of gasoline.
He ran over to living dead and lopped one of their heads clean off. The way to kill zombies was to either burn them or to destroy their heads. They turned to look at him, sensing that he was indeed a threat.
As one, they came at him, very slowly. That was the good thing about zombies, they were slow and very stupid. One of them collapsed to the ground. A bloody bullet wound threw its forehead signaled that it was dead.
Then two more gun shots, and two more dead zombies. Fallon Ryan was holding her gun with both hands as she shot the zombies. Angel swerved as one of the rotting creatures tried to grab him from behind. He spun around and chopped its head cleanly off.
Fallon shot the creatures as Angel beheaded them. The kids had enough sense to run now. Angel sliced through a dead woman's head as he asked Fallon, "I thought I told you to stay safe."
Fallon shrugged and launched a roundhouse kick at one of the creature's heads. She then shot it gracefully though the head. Angel noticed that the zombies were trying to push them into the graveyard.
He told Fallon, "Fallon, they're trying to push us back."
Fallon shrugged as she shot another one. She said, "Let the slimy bastards, we can handle them."
The point was that they were outnumbered 40 to one, and no matter how stupid or slow the creatures were, that was still very impossible odds. Angel looked behind him. Standing on a grave was Lilith.
She was laughing at them. Fallon took another shot, the gun clicked and nothing happened. She cursed, "Damn son of a bitch." Angel grabbed her wrist and shouted, "Run!"
Angel jerked her to get her moving. He had a plan. The bottle of gasoline was tucked safely inside a pocket in his duster.
Fallon dropped the gun and took off running. Angel had to slow his pace so the small witch could keep up. Angel stopped suddenly as the zombies had them surrounded.
Fallon blew strands of her light brown hair out of her face. She looked at Angel accusingly and cursed, "Damn it! You've just gotten us both killed." Angel half smiled, he knew what he was doing.
The zombies were crowding closer. Fallon started to curse pointlessly. Lilith laughed. She drifted over to them, ending standing on the entrance of an old white marble crypt. She said, "You've lost Angel. It was only a matter of time."
Angel smiled as he presented the glass bottle. He asked, "Have you ever seen a dead body burn?"
Lilith looked stunned. Angel shook the bottle of gas as the zombies approached even closer. He bent down and whispered into Fallon's ear, "Get ready to run." The elfin witch nodded.
Angel asked, "Do you know what a Molotov cocktail is?" Lilith was silent. Angel studied the bottle for a moment before he answered, "It's a very interesting thing. You see they used them in World War II to destroy tanks, and the thing is that any idiot can make one."
He smiled at Lilith's expression of horror. The oldest vampire had picked the wrong vampire to play mind games with because Angel could play them right back. He uncorked the bottle and stuffed a rag in it.
He held the bottle up for Lilith to see it. Her grey eyes widened in horror, which just made Angel smile. He pulled his engraved Zippo from his pocket and ficked it on. He watched the flame for a moment as he whispered, "Really simple." Then he lit the rag.
He tossed it at the zombies. He lifted Fallon with one arm and took off running. The dead bodies caught up in flames like dried timber. Angel set Fallon on the ground as he watched all the zombies burned. He knew that this would work because Lilith would have never suspected it.
Vampires didn't play around with fire, it could mean their death. Well Angel was smarter and better skilled than the average vamp. Fallon's eyes were huge as she murmured, "You crazy son of a bitch, you did it."
Lilith's eyes flashed scarlet as she gazed at Angel. She snarled, "This isn't over yet fledgling, count on it."
Angel stuffed his hands into his pockets and didn't even bother to say any thing. Lilith growled as she dissolved into mist.
Fallon shivered and asked, "Who was that bitch?"
Angel looked down at her and answered, "I'll take care of it."
Fallon shook her head and said, "That wasn't what I asked. What I asked was who was she?"
Angel replied, "I know, and you don't. I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it."
Fallon crossed her arms and cursed, "Damned vampire, you always gotta do stuff alone."
Angel nodded and replied, "You got that right."
Fallon looked at him. There was no way that the witch could understand how right she was. She said, "Well, Cordy and Doyle are waiting to see us." Then she started to walk out of the graveyard.
Angel looked up at the crescent moon. He whispered, "This isn't over by a long shot demoness." As he turned to walk out of the graveyard he gave the embers of the burning corpses one last look. He added, "Not by a long shot."
The Coming of Lilith
Part three
In the last week Angel had killed seven vampires, six zombies and one chaos demon all sent by the Dark Mother herself. Angel was getting tired of this and was wondering when the demoness was going to attack him herself.
He had to momentarily shut down his P.I. agency because of all the pandemonium. It was getting annoying. The worst thing was that in all of her attempts was that they were not trying to kill him, they were trying to take him alive. He had tried tracking her down, but she was illusive like fog. He might get a lead and then she would be gone with another vampire waiting in her place.
Lilith wanted Angel alive for reasons he did not know. It was his opinion that it would be easer to kill him than try to take him alive. Angel wasn't about to join her twisted coven, no matter how much torture she put him under. If she thought that she was A.) Insane B.) Stupid or C.) Egotistical. And if she wanted Angelus back she was out of luck, because there was only one way to break the curse, and Angel wasn't about to do that.
He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the desk. It seemed odd without Cordelia or Doyle in here. Doyle had gone off to find some information on Lilith and Cordelia had the night off.
Angel wondered if the aspiring actress had won a part in an audition yet. Leave it to Cordelia to try an almost impossible job with little talent. Okay, he was being a little hard on the girl, but he was realistic. Being over 240 years old sort of made one realistic. He wondered what she was doing in her free time, and if she would keep out of danger.
The brand-new rave club was the hottest thing in L.A. right now, and Cordy was in line waiting to get in. She was next up and she knew that the beefy bouncer would let her in.
She was hot, dressed in a bright scarlet slip dress that accented her long dark brown hair and dark, California tanned skin. Angel had told her in about fifteen years when her skin started to age prematurely that she would regret those hours spent in the tanning bed or sprawled out on the beach. She thought he was just jealous that he couldn't get a tan, that he couldn't go outside until 6:30 at night. He would be forever white, his loss. Besides, he would look weird with a tan.
The bouncer, as Cordelia predicted, let her in, with a gaze of lust in his pale eyes. She just smiled at him and entered the club.
The band was playing a really good song, one that Cordelia could dance to. Bright lights danced in the dimness of the club, giving it this eerie, otherworldly quality. The upper level of the club was almost pitch black. Cordy looked up, it would be the place that Angel would hide if he was here. She looked for the tall, broad-shouldered figure, but knew if Angel didn't want to be seen, he wasn't gonna be seen.
She started to sway in time with the music. The band leader's soft voice sang out:
"Eternity can be along time to wait.
To be alone, to be alone,
To want something, *someone*, that you cannot have.
To suffer with this pain for all eternity.
To be cursed with this burden for all eternity.
Eternity can be along time to wait.
To be alone, to be alone,
Eternity can be along time to wait.
To be alone, to be alone,
Eternity can be along time to wait.
To be alone, to be alone."
I wonder if he ever met Angel, Cordelia thought as she listened to the words of the haunting song. She stopped dancing, a tiny shiver creeping down her spine. It felt like someone was hunting her, she knew what that was like.
She looked around, suddenly needing to find some place safe. She walked over to the bar and sat down. She still felt nervous. She was unprotected. She had learned enough to know that. She had seen what went bump in the night. She had looked vampires in the eye, watched werewolves change, and seen demons killed. She had learned that there was a way to kill everything. She had seen an almost indisturctable demon shot with a rocket launcher. She had seen a giant serpent demon explode with her high school. More than once she had been on the business end of a vampire's fangs.
The song changed. The guy sung:
"Everyone, great or small, is hunted.
A predator lies within all of us.
We all hunt something, have all been hunted at sometime.
This is a terrifying thought.
The human race is a sham.
We are all hunters.
*We all hunger*."
This is getting too freaky, I've gotta bail, Cordy thought as she stood up. She was about to walk out when a strangely comanding female voice echoed in her mind, Don't go my dear. Come up to me. I won't hurt you. Cordelia looked up into the second level of the club.
A bright white beam encased a tall, slender young woman with long pale blond hair that was strangely natural. She was palely beautiful with mesmerizing eyes. Cordelia started to walk up the stairs, she couldn't help herself.
The young woman was dressed in a black, low-cut, lace-up, velvet dress with billowy sleeves. The short black material accented her long, pale legs. On anyone else the dress might look trashy, but on this chick, it looked like she was born to wear the dress, even though the Goth look had gone out a long time ago. She was wearing a long silver necklace with a red crystal pendent.
She smiled at Cordelia, and Cordelia was slowly lulled into a sense of safeness and security. She took Cordy's chin with slender fingers, distantly, Cordy noticed that her long fingernails were painted brilliant silver. Her eyes were grey, then violet. Cordelia felt drowsy, her mind was slipping, but she didn't care.
The Goth chick asked, "Does he have a weakness?"
"Who?" Cordy foggily asked.
"Angel," the girl answered.
A small voice in Cordelia's mind shouted, No damn it, don't tell her anything! But Cordy ignored it, she was safe with the girl, she loved Cordelia and would never hurt her. Cordelia smiled in her heavily drugged state and answered, "Yeah, he does."
The young woman smiled. That smile made Cordy feel proud that she helped her. The young woman asked, "What is it?"
Cordelia had to help her. If Cordy didn't, she would die, and then she couldn't love Cordelia anymore. Cordelia answered, "Buffy Summers."
Then her eyes flashed crimson. She gripped Cordelia's face and brought her closer. She said, "Thank you my girl, you have helped me a great deal." Then her features contorted to a hideous demon's, fangs gleamed in the blue light. Cordelia didn't notice the danger.
A large, pale hand reached out and snapped the girl's hand away. Cordelia was snapped back into reality and screamed as she saw the glowing red eyes and fangs. Angel stepped between them and glowered at the girl.
He snarled, "You won't have her Lilith."
Lilith! That girl's Lilith! Oh hell, Cordelia thought. She said, "Angel, you mean, that this is Lilith."
Angel was drawn up protectively around Cordelia. She was surprised that he was protecting her like this. Maybe he didn't want to find another secretary. Angel nodded, Lilith laughed.
Lilith chuckled, "Foolish mortal, you fell for it. Your minds are so easy to bend." The bitch had hypnotized Cordelia. Cordelia felt her anger rising.
Angel said, "Leave her be, she has no part in this."
Lilith chuckled, "Besides, I already got what I was looking for."
Angel's dark eyes flashed in anger. Lilith chuckled at him. Cordy wanted to slap the bitch's smug look off her face. Lilith said, "Thank you my dear, the information you had given me will be very useful." Then she disappeared. Not faded into the shadows like Angel does, but, turned into mist and drifted off.
Angel turned to face her. He asked, "Are you all right?"
Cordelia felt ashamed, and angry. She had been brainwashed and had betrayed him. She answered, "Angel I'm sorry. She brainwashed me, and then I . . ."
Panic flared in the dark depths of her boss's eyes. He asked, slowly, patiently, like he was speaking to a young child, "What did you do?"
"Um, I said Buffy's name, as your weakness," she sheepishly answered.
Angel cursed, "Oh, damn."
The Coming of Lilith
Part four
Lilith drifted into Sunnydale, and walked to the collage. She was looking for this generation's Slayer, Buffy Anne Summers. The child was Angel's weakness, he would storm the gates of Hell for the girl. That is what all Lilith needed.
Lilith saw the small blond girl walking with several friends, a small redheaded witch, a short werewolf with jet black hair, a slender white-haired vampire named Spike, who Angel was the grandsire to of all things, and a gangly dark-haired boy. The vampire looked around, he must have sensed her. That was no bother to Lilith, the fledgling couldn't hurt her.
The Slayer wasn't really a bother either. Lilith had killed hundreds of Slayers, this little girl was of no bother. Lilith watched as the blond girl's head snapped around with Spike's.
Lilith could hear their conversation. The Slayer asked, in a slightly annoyed voice, "What is it Spike?"
The slender punk rocker vampire shrugged and answered, "Don't bloody well know, I thought I sensed something wacky. Just my bloody imagination, I guess."
The Slayer rolled her huge green eyes and replied, "Whatever Spike."
Lilith kept to the shadows as she followed the Slayer and her group of friends. The Slayer split up from the rest of them, preparing to go on her rounds. Lilith followed her, her amazing eyes burning scarlet.
Buffy was being followed, she could sense it. She pulled a steak out of her leather jacket and said, "Okay, whoever you are, show yourself."
The graveyard was quiet as death. A slight breeze blew strands of her hair out of her pony tail. Buffy looked around, all of her Slayer senses on full alert. She wished that she wasn't alone. Giles would be welcome company, hell, Buffy could even stand Spike right now. But who she really wanted was Angel.
Buffy heard a rustling in a near by bush. Crouching, she started to move to the unsuspecting shrubbery. A tall figure stepped out in front of her. Buffy stood up to her full height and looked up at the young woman.
She was slender, dressed in all black leather like some S&M freak, all she needed was a whip. She had long pale blond hair that fell to a silken mass to her slender waist. She was oddly beautiful with strange dark eyes. The young woman's eyes turned silvery as she studied Buffy.
Buffy was afraid. She could sense evil and bloodlust thick as butter around her. There was this ancient quality about her that frightened Buffy. It was almost looking into the Master's or Angelus's eyes, but more evil, if that was possible.
The woman laughed and said, "Hello young Slayer. You don't know who I am, do you? Well, I'm Lilith."
The name sounded slightly familiar, but Buffy couldn't think of it right now. She tightened her grip on her steak and flippantly replied, "Well never heard of you so . . ."
Lilith laughed at her. Buffy's fear was replaced by anger. Lilith spread her arms out, leaving herself vulnerable to attack. She chuckled, "Well then Little One, try to kill me."
Buffy spun a roundhouse kick at her head. Lilith parted her blow with ease. Buffy blinked in surprise. Lilith beconded her with her pointer finger. Buffy gritted her teeth and sent a combination spin kick and right cross. The blows didn't even faze her.
Lilith chuckled and said, "My turn sweeting."
She raised her arm above her head and moved her hand in a slow circle. Buffy felt bands of energy circle around her. She tried to run, but a band of magic, or whatever it was, caught her around the ankle and sent her sprawling to the ground. Buffy cried out as she struggled against the magical energy. She was lifted up and brought to Lilith.
Crimson eyes blazed and fangs gleamed in the pale moonlight. Buffy gasped at the demon. Lilith laughed and said, "Bait."
"*What?*" Buffy asked in disbelief, struggling.
Lilith ran a long silver fingernail across Buffy's cheek, drawing blood. Buffy flinched at the sharp, stinging pain. Lilith answered, "Angel." Buffy's eyes widened in silent horror. Lilith's laughter bounced along the graveyard.
The Coming of Lilith
Part Five
The image was blurry, smoky, moving in slow motion. Angel walked slowly in the warehouse, the rotting zombies and other vampires ignored him. It was like walking underwater, it had a distinctive dreamlike quality.
Then Angel knew he was dreaming. There was an upper level, a cat walk. There was a rope suspended from the ceiling, and suspended to the rope was a person. A small familiar figure. He walked closer.
Lilith's slim form appeared above him, sitting on a crate. She crossed her legs and looked down at him. Her laughter echoed strangely in the dim, candle lit room. The demoness said, "Look up Dark Angel. Look up and see what I want you to see."
He looked up and gasped.
Buffy was the dangling person. Her long blond hair fell into her face, obscuring it. She turned her head and looked down at him. Her enormous green eyes were even wider in terror. She cried out, "Angel!"
"Buffy!" He shouted back at her, ready to fight all of the undead, vampire or not, in this room to save her. Lilith threw back her head and laughed.
Angel growled and approached her. He climbed to the crate that Lilith was lounging on. He grabbed the demon witch by her leather bodice and jerked her off the ground. She laughed even harder.
Angel snarled at her, "Let her go."
Lilith laughed and replied, "If you ask nicely."
"Angel!" He looked up at Buffy again. The look she gave him was of one that knew that she was going to die. Her body crumbled to dust before his eyes.
Lilith laughed, "You didn't ask nicely."
Angel screamed Buffy's name helplessly.
"*Buffy*!" Angel bolted upward, realizing that he was in his bedroom, that it had all been a dream. He got out of his bed and quickly dressed. He walked into the office and looked at Cordelia and Doyle.
Doyle asked, "What is it Angel?"
Angel looked out of the window, there was still two hours of daylight left. Angel answered, "Lilith." Then, before Doyle could ask another question, Angel told Cordelia, "Call up Giles. Now."
Cordelia nodded as she picked up the phone. He started to pace the room. He wondered if the dream was conjured from his imagination or if it was a prophecy. He wasn't physic, but, somehow he always knew when Buffy was in trouble. If that demon bitch touched one hair on Buffy's sweet blond head, he would send her to Hell, personally.
"Angel's really wigged right now, Xander. He needs to speak to Giles," Cordelia was saying. Angel stopped pacing and turned to face her. Cordelia went pale under her California tan. She stammered, "She's been *what*? Oh my God."
Angel took the phone from Cordelia and said, "Buffy's been taken. I figured as much."
Xander Harris's voice was more than a little agitated as he said, "Yeah. Spike said he felt something weird last night, him and Giles thinks that it was that thing that he sensed that took her."
"I know what took her," Angel told the boy.
"*What*?" Xander exclaimed.
"I know who took her, just get me Giles, I need his help." Angel sat on the desk as the boy ran to get the Watcher.
Doyle and Cordelia were looking at him expectantly. Angel looked out the window. He glared at the sunlight. He wanted to rip that demon witch limb from limb. If she hurt Buffy in any way. I will send her to Hell with my bear hands if I have to.
Giles's voice came over the other line. He said, "Angel, Xander said that you know who took Buffy."
Angel nodded as he replied, "It was the Dark Mother." Giles would probably know the title.
"Lilith?" he asked, "I thought she was only a myth."
Angel answered, "No she's real, and she's here."
"In Los Angeles?" Giles asked.
Angel nodded as he replied, "The City of Demons. She came here about a week ago."
"Did you face her?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, I did."
"Good God, and you managed to get away from her *alive?*" Giles asked in disbelief. His concern for Buffy was evident in every word.
I swear I will get her back to you safely. "Barely. Giles, tell me everything you know about Lilith, any weaknesses she might have and so on," Angel told the Watcher.
He could imagine Giles taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. The Watcher said, "Well, as you know she was the person that the demon fed off of and she, inturn, drank his blood, becoming the first vampire. She is written to be very powerful, and she has the ability to bend minds to her will."
"Yeah, she is also a witch Giles, and a necromancer. With the help of a local witch, I destroyed an army of zombies she rased. She can also cast binding spells without even batting an eyelash," Angel told Giles.
"Good God, my books tell me nothing about that," Giles murmured.
Angel looked at Cordelia and Doyle, both of them were wide eyed as they listened to Angel's half of the conversation. There was the familiar sound of pages turning over the other line. Giles said, with fear and dread rising in his British accent, "There is nothing else about her in any of my books. They all say the same thing, 'Slayer and Paladin both have faced her and died. She is almost indestructible. Only a creature of demonic proportions may be able to destroy her. Take heed Holy Knight or Slayer who faces her, she has killed many of your kind and you are nothing to her.' Not very encouraging."
Angel narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. He asked, "Only a creature of demonic origins could have a chance to destroy her, why?"
Again, more pages turned. Giles answered, his voice deep in thought, "It doesn't say. It only mentions a spell of protection that only a creature that had survived the flames of Hell can endure."
A quick grin flashed across Angel's features. He told Giles, "Thank you, Giles. I swear that I'll bring Buffy back to safely."
"Angel . . ." Angel hung up the phone before Giles could say anything else. He had a plan. Quickly he dialed Fallon's phone number.
In about fifteen minutes Fallon had arrived. The small, elfin witch stood in the dark privacy of Angel's apartment, away from Doyle and Cordy's prying eyes. Angel watched as the small witch crossed her arms and asked, "Angel, Big Guy, why the hell do you need this crap?"
Various wards of protection and potions were placed on a thick table. Angel picked up a small bottle filled with a thick green liquid. Light shone through it, casting a slight emerald glow on the table face. He put the bottle down and absently answered, "I'm going to face Lilith."
"Who?" Fallon asked in disbelief. Angel remembered that he didn't answer her questions about the zombies.
Angel answered, "The necromancer who raised the graveyard of zombies. She is Lilith, the first vampire."
"No shit," Fallon exclaimed. Then her catlike eyes widened as she said, "Holy shit, Angel, you're gonna go toe to toe, head to head with the first vampire. No wonder why you wanted all this protection crap."
"Do you know anything about her that can help?" he asked as he picked up a small bottle filled with a ruby colored liquid.
Fallon shrugged her small shoulders and answered, "Not much, except she could blast your ass against the wall and that she could fry you as well. That she could do all kinds of funky shit. Like energy crap and stuff."
Angel studied a dark blue potion and asked, "What's this one?"
"Oh, you don't want to drink that," Fallon said, "It's a protection spell. The Elixir of Helious. Very powerful, but only a creature that has, 'survived the fires of Hell can withstand the horrific power of this potion.' You don't want to take it . . ."
Angel twisted the top off of it and gulped the contents down. Fallon watched wide eyed. Liquid fire pulsed through his veins for a moment before it settled in him in a strong glow. Fallon wondered, confused, "Only a creature who had been to Hell and back . . . That would mean that you . . ."
Angel sadly smiled at her. She cursed, "Holy shit!"
He said, "Fallon, listen carefully. You need to hide. Don't invite anyone into your home. All right?"
The elfin witch nodded as she pushed her light brown hair out of her catlike eyes. She said, "Okay Angel, whatever you say."
"You're gonna go after Lilith. Alone. With no help," Doyle said as Angel put on his leather jacket.
Night had just fallen. Angel knew what he needed to do. He was ready to face Lilith. He had no choice. He ignored Doyle and Cordelia's worried pleas. He had to do this alone. Buffy was counting on him.
That one thought over shadowed every thing else. Buffy needed him. He stood up to his full height and looked at the skyline, projecting all of his senses to find her.
Come then, young one. Find your beloved, face me, A voice whispered in his mind. Lilith, Angel thought, I'm ready for you this time, demon witch. If I have to send you to Hell with my bear hands, then so help me I will. She had Buffy, that alone had signed her death warrant.
The Coming of Lilith
Part Six
Buffy Summers jerked at the thick nylon rope that tied her hands together above her head. It stayed unmoving. Buffy's feet dangled a few inches above the ground. She pulled her body up to try to break the rope with her meager weight and superhuman strength.
Sweat dripped from her brow as she bit her lip in her struggle. She groaned as she let her body rest. Buffy looked down at the zombies and vampires that stood in rows on the floor below her. Their leader, the bitch, Lilith, was not to be seen. She may be hunting Angel, Buffy thought with dread and started to struggle again.
"My dear, that is nylon rope, it can hold 3,000 pounds before it breaks. So it is useless to even try." Lilith stood before her in all of her S&M leather glory, except she had traded the bodice for a lace-up red satin tank top that only covered slightly more than the corset thingie.
"Well, I've gotta try and all," Buffy quipped to the first vampire.
Lilith laughed and took Buffy's face in her hands. Her skin was as cold as ice, as death, it was so cold it burned. Buffy tried to jerk her face away, Lilith's talon like hands and nails bit into her skin. Lilith said, "You have spirt, and guts. You might acualy get away from this alive, if your Angel cooperates."
"He is not *my* Angel," Buffy spat, a note of sorrow creeping into her tone. She jerked at her ropes again, Lilith laughed.
The vamp said, "Ah, forbidden love, what songs and romance novels are written about." Her eyes flashed scarlet, like the Master's, and sneered, "How discussing."
Keep the banter up, try to get out before Angel gets into this, Buffy thought. She sighed and quipped, "If you don't like it, then don't watch."
Lilith squeezed Buffy's face so hard that her claws drew blood. Buffy hissed in pain. Lilith said, "Your Dark Angel will come for you. You see he's a paladin, and he will come for you."
"What the hell is a paladin?" Buffy asked to keep the vamp busy.
Lilith smiled and let go of Buffy's face. Buffy looked away discussed, her blood stained the vamp's silver fingernails. Lilith said, "If he doesn't come in the next ten minutes I might have to kill you."
To make her point, she grabbed Buffy's face again and pulled her close. She sneered, "Slowly."
"If you hurt her you demon witch I'll send you to Hell with my bear hands," a familiar voice called from below. Buffy groaned as Angel stepped from the shadows.
Angel saw Lilith and Buffy up on the second level of the warehouse. He didn't pay any attention to the zombies and vampires who glared at him. All of his anger was focused on Lilith and getting Buffy safely back.
Lilith laughed as she jumped onto a crate high above him, but below the second level. She said, "Give yourself to me and I'll let your Slayer go."
Angel's response was one word, "Never."
Lilith shrugged and sighed. She said, "Well if you can get past my minions and myself to get to your Slayer you and her can go Scott free. If we get you, then you watch your Slayer painfully die."
Angel looked up at Buffy who was struggling furiously against her bonds. Her long blond hair fell in sweaty strands in her huge green eyes. The Slayer was helpless, *Buffy* was in danger. Angel smiled as the zombies approached him.
He had another Molotov cocktail ready. He lit the rag and tossed it at the rotting corpses. The flaming bottle of death exploded, and the corpses lit up like fireworks. The flame spread to some of the wooden crates.
The vampires snarled at him. Angel walked right up to them. One accualy was dumb enough to charge at him. Angel threw his body into the flames. Angel barely acknowledged the fact that it screamed as it burned to ash.
Another five charged at him. He had a broadsword strapped onto his back, he unsheathed it and beheaded them with one stroke. He kept walking. He coldly killed his vampire brethren as he walked up to Lilith, death on his mind.
Lilith smiled as she watched him, Angel kept advancing threw the flames. Another minion charged at him. Without blinking, Angel skewered him with the sword and slung his body into the fire. He was focused on two things: Killing Lilith and getting Buffy back.
Lilith jumped from her perch on the crates and lifted her left hand over her head. She slowly turned it in a small circle, smoke and crackling scarlet energy forming. She sneered, "Well, you got past my minions, let's see how well you do against me."
Angel smiled, just a bit, a cold, empty smile. He spun the broadsword once and held it in a battle position. He whispered, "Bring it on, bitch."
Lilith's face transformed into something hideous and demonic. Her eyes glowed with a hellish light. She was insane. Angel held his ground and readied himself for the Dark Mother's attack. With a primal scream, Lilith shot the dark magic at Angel.
It crackled past his body, not harming him because of the potion. He smiled at Lilith's look of disbelief. He slowly walked toward her. She sent more energy at him. It past through him without even a tingle. He kept coming.
Lilith screamed and held both of her hands up. She shouted incoherently. Good. She was angry and unfocused, so she would be off-balanced, just how Angel liked them. More energy crackled between her palms before she blasted at him.
Angel rolled out of the way. He didn't know how potent that potion was when it came to this sort of thing, so he wasn't going to take any more chances. Lilith caught him off guard and blasted him against the warehouse wall.
She kept advancing, sending more of the deadly power at Angel. He heard Buffy cry out his name. It wasn't hurting him, just rendering him helpless. Pinning him up against the wall as easily as one would pin an insect.
He gritted his teeth and snarled. He felt his face transform. His vison became clearer and more detailed as he glanced through the beam of Lilith's dark power. Her fanged smile was hideous as she approached him.
With a feral growl, Angel managed to snap free and charge at Lilith.
Buffy shouted out to Angel, but he couldn't hear her. He and Lilith were fighting savagely on the first level of the warehouse. She was helpless tied up like this. She screamed as Lilith swiped at Angel with a taloned hand. Angel caught the vamp's wrist and sent her into a wild spin, knocking her into a stack of crates.
Angel was winded. He was slightly stooped as he awaited Lilith's counter. Buffy flipped herself up and locked her ankles around the rope, now hanging upside down. She nudged the rope with her feet to see if she could get the knot loose. The blood was rushing to her head, making her lightheaded and dizzy.
She bit her lip as she worked her feet against the rope. She paused long enough to see Lilith hit Angel with a wicked right-cross. Angel spat out a little blood and wiped his mouth with his hand.
He snarled at Lilith and roundhouse kicked that bitch right up side her bitchy head. Buffy gritted her teeth as she began to work furiously on the ropes again.
Angel blocked Lilith's roundhouse combination and spun her to the ground. He was beginning to feel weary and weak. Lilith rushed at him once more. He blocked her left arm, but her right talons scraped against his eyes.
He screamed as he shoved Lilith away. He rubbed at his eyes. It hurt almost unbearably, and besides, it made him blind. He blinked, trying to get his vison back. He healed quickly, but not quickly enough in this case. He heard Lilith's fiendish laughter.
He rolled out of the way, rolling over something cyender and hard. His blurred vision picked up a broken broom handle. Angel smiled as he picked it up. Lilith came at him again. He stabbed her right threw the stomach.
She laughed at him and said, "It's not the heart, Angel."
Angel stood up, lifting Lilith's impaled body up with him. He laughed back at her and said, "Remember, Molotov cocktail."
Her scarlet eyes widened in terror. He rammed her body into the flames. He held the long wooden pole as she caught on fire. With a demonic shriek of pain, terror and anger, Lilith was nothing more than a pile of greyish ash.
He looked up to see Buffy hanging upside down. He ran to her and untied her. She tumbled into his arms. He gently sat her down on the ground, not knowing what to do or say. She looked up at him with her huge eyes.
Then she looked down at the fire and said, "We better get out of here before we're toast."
Doyle watched as Angel and the Slayer walked hand and hand out of the burning warehouse. He ran over to them. They were a little worse for wear. He asked, "Is she dead?"
Angel nodded and looked down at the Slayer. He ignored Doyle and asked, "Are you alright?"
Buffy nodded and asked, a little nervously, "So, what now, I mean, you just killed the first vampire?"
Doyle knew what the girl meant. Angel would be fiercely hunted now because of it. The vampire shrugged and said, "Whatever comes." Then he started to lead her away, saying, "Come on, lets get you home."
The End!
(I swear it, for now . . .)