Lily sat at the bar and ordered her second drink. The bartender hesitated before serving her, but did not ask for I.D. Most bars in Los Angeles didn't bother. If you tipped well enough, they'd serve you anything. For instance, the man on her right was enjoying a nice mug of blood. The fellow to her left who had two large horns sprouting from his forehead was drinking something green that Lily wasn't convinced to be alcohol. Occupational hazard, seeing unpleasant things being consumed while visiting a demon bar.
"I'll let you have this one on the house if you leave." The bartender pleaded. Lily sighed, tossing her blonde hair off of her shoulder.
"Why is it that I'm always being rushed out of places like this?" She asked, her voiced mocking disappointment. The bar-keep looked around, watching customers get leave in fear of the girl. "Just tell me what I need to know."
"Anything." He promised quickly.
"I'm looking for a vampire. One with a soul." The beast next to her let out a callous laugh, throwing his horned head back. "Something funny?" Lily asked, turning to him.
"You're crazy looking for Angel. That traitor was wiped out by the Wolfram and Hart. Good riddance." He said, beginning to laugh, and Lily joined in with his chaotic laughter. People started to stare.
"Well" Lily said, her laugher cut short as she grabbed the demon's neck and slammed it into the bar. "Seeing as how I'm crazy, maybe I'll just have to break your neck." She said, pressing his face down onto the glass countertop.
"I've heard he's alive!" The bartender shouted. Lily looked up at him. "He…he's not the same as he used to be."
"That's not what I'm looking for. I want to know where he is." She said, her hostage still whimpering beneath her hold. The bartender looked nervous, his breaths shallow.
"I…Downtown. It's the rough part of downtown. In one of the old warehouses. Bunch of vampires used to stay there till he moved in. I don't know which building, but…somewhere." Lily released her prisoner.
"Thanks for the tip." She said, tossing a ten dollar bill onto the counter. She left the seedy bar in search of her Champion.
There were many abandoned buildings in downtown. Lily found abandoned nests in every single one. She would stand silent in each building, begging for some kind of sound of movement. Even if it wasn't the vampire she sought, she could possibly fid one who had information she could use.
Lily was on her fourth building. She was on the second floor, and she paused mid step. She looked up, straining her ears. She could hear something. A scratching, coming from above her. She looked around the room and found a staircase, and decided to follow this sound, praying it wasn't a just a rat again. Lily could hear the scratching even louder on the third floor. This was no rat. She walked through a threshold, and she saw a figure hunched over in the corner of the room. It was the source of the scratching. Lily took out her flashlight, and shined it on the walls.
It was etched over every inch of the room, from the top of the walls to the bottom, corner to corner. It was the work of a madman. Lily realized the scratching had stopped. She flashed the light where the figure had been hunched over. It was gone. Lily heard something shuffle behind her.
"Get out." Someone hissed behind her. Lily tucked herself in, and rolled away from whatever was behind her. "You need to leave." It demanded. Lily shone her light. It was him.
"Angel?" She asked, timidly. It was silent. The man was ragged, a thick, dark coat encased him, the bottoms of his pants shredded, the coat had burn marks and deep gashes. His hair had grown out, it covered his eyes; he looked just like a homeless man. "Angel, Buffy sent me-"
"Buffy?" He asked, his eyes twitched around the room.
"Oh…no, she's not here…three years ago…She…died." Lily said. She thought he would have heard by now.
"Again? Really?" He asked. Lily nodded.
"She's really dead this time. Willow's not bringing her back." His eye twitched a bit more, then he moved very suddenly. Lily's body tensed up, but he went right by her. The scratching started up again. Lily walked over to where he was sitting. Scratched freshly into the wall was BUFFY. The markings suddenly made sense. Cordelia, Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Illyeria. These were all of Angel's fallen friends who lost their lives during one apocalypse or another. "Angel…Buffy told me to come and find you." He kept carving names. "She wanted me to make sure you were alright. And if you weren't…." Lily was sure he was not okay. Buffy had asked her to take care of Angel, look after him. Lily was still worried he was going to turn around and bite her neck.
"Why?" He asked sharply.
"She felt really bad about abandoning you after you started to work with Wolfram and Hart…She wanted me to see if things were okay…" Lily was starting to worry that Angel was too far gone. After all, it had been six years that Angel had been separated from society.
"Why now?" Angel demanded, still not looking up from his work.
"I…well, I had to track someone else down, before you…" Angel stopped his work.
"Spike?" Lily could hear his teeth clench as his forced out that name.
"Buffy wanted to make sure he hadn't…gone evil again. If he had…"
"You were going to kill him? You're supposed to kill me too. If I'm evil that is." Angel said, and began carving again.
"That's true." Lily said. "But I don't think you're evil Angel. I think you're hurt, and you've been in pain for a while…but it's time to stop." She said firmly. Angel continued to carve. "This is nothing but a pathetic memorial to your fallen friends." Angel threw the knife he was working with at the adjacent wall. He stood quickly and faced Lily. Her breath caught.
"You have no idea what this is. You don't know about them, and you have no idea about my pain." He said, ferocious. Lily clutched the stake in her pocket.
"If you cared at all about your friends who gave up their lives to fight, then you wouldn't be held up in this building, sadly carving their names in the wall. What would Buffy think?"
"It doesn't matter what Buffy thinks. She's dead. She died a long time ago." Angel said darkly. Lily understood.
"She didn't abandon you Angel. We had no idea about the battle between you and Wolfram and Hart, not until I found Spike…" As soon as she said the name, Angel's head snapped up, and his eyes met hers. She could see them burning through his mops of hair. "He…told me about it. Buffy had no idea. We thought you were still running the firm. I was really supposed to try and talk you into leaving, as her dying wish…" Angel was clenching his teeth in anger. "I'm really sorry about all that's happened to you. You were a great hero…but I guess 'were' says it all." Lily said, lowering her head. "I wanted to try and convince you to come back into the fight. We could use you back on our side, you know. You make a better fighter than a…" Lily glanced around the room," artist." She pulled out a small piece of paper from her coat pocket. "I'm staying in L.A. In case you haven't noticed, things have gotten pretty bad around here. Look me up if you ever decide to…be sane again." Angel took the paper from her. She met his steel glare once more. It sent chills down her back. She turned away from him, and began to walk towards the window.
Always loving a good exit, Lily leapt from the third story window, landing on the fire escape on the second floor. From there, she dropped back down to the cement.
"What a waste of potential." Lily sighed. She had hoped to find Angel in a more functional state. "Maybe if he realizes how dangerous it is out here…" Lily mumbled to herself.
"Looking for danger sweetie? I've got some right here for yah." Someone grumbled from behind her. Lily rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure you're tough and all, but trust me, you don't wanna fight with me…" She said, turning around expecting to see some drunk loser. She was wrong. "I know you." She said, looking at the horned demon. "From the bar, right? Good times, right? Nice drinks, nice face smashing…here for another round?" Lily quipped. The demon laughed. "Laughing is what got you in trouble the first time, big guy." Lily said, crossing her arms.
"Well, sweetheart, it's not just you against me, this time." He sneered. Lily sighed, as five more demons wearing large black cloaks, almost identical to this one, crept from the shadows.
"You brought your brothers to fight for you? Lame." Lily said, backing up a bit. She had no weapons.
"Actually," said a husky voice, "we're his sisters." The five demons then proceeded to pull out swords.
"Great. Bitches with swords. What an awesome night." Lily muttered.
"Kill her!" Their brother demanded. The sisters charged at Lily.
She was lucky enough to grab the first wrist she could get to, crack her wrist, and steal her sword. Now, all Lily had to do was tire them out…or so she thought. It seemed as if every time they swung at her, it was with more force, and more power.
Lily was panting. They were a lot tougher than their brother, who stood behind, laughing. The sister she had stolen the sword from suddenly ran up from behind her, swinging a large metal pipe which cracked right into Lily's shoulder. She screamed out in pain, falling to the ground. She rolled quickly away from the sisters. It had been her left shoulder, and she held the sword tightly in her right hand. Lily got up, ran towards the closed dumpster, and jumped on. The demons followed her, and when they got close enough, Lily slipped back behind the dumpster, braced herself against the building, and kicked the large metal trash receptacle as hard as she could. It went flying forward, knocking over the sisters like pins in bowling.
Lily sighed in relief, about to go after the brother, when suddenly, the dumpster came flying back at her. She was shocked, and frozen in place. Something crashed into Lily's left side. She was sure it was the dumpster it hurt so much. She knew she wasn't dead when the pain didn't go away.
"Ahhh….shit." She grimaced, trying to move. The sword in her right hand was pulled away from her. She jerked up, ready to fight for her life. "I…Angel?" There was a large figure standing between her and the oncoming demons.
"Stay there." He snapped. The five demons jumped. Angel immediately slashed one's head clear off it's neck. He impaled another. Lily jumped up, and grabbed one of the fallen sister's swords. "I told you to stay!" Angel yelled, as she fought with one sister.
"I don't listen very well. Buffy said it was both refreshing, and annoying," Lily said, as she managed to kick the demon's sword away from her, then dig her own sword deep into it's gut. It fell over heavily.
"Duck!" Angel yelled, and Lily crouched down. Angel threw his sword right over her head, Lily heard it impale whatever was behind her.
"Sometimes I can listen though, see?" Lily asked, standing up. She turned to the last demon standing. The brother. He looked horrified. More terrified of what was now his fate. "This is why you don't let sisters fight your battles. You're supposed to stick up for them." Lily scolded. He turned and began to run. Something flew right by Lily's ear, and the demon dropped. She looked back to Angel who lowered his arm. "Jeez. Thanks for the warning." Lily shuddered.
"Sometimes you don't listen, sometimes I don't talk." He said, and started to walk back towards the building.
"You're going back in?" Lily asked. "I mean, after that heroic effort, running into hiding is a little…well…disappointing."
"It's no trouble, really. You're welcome. It was no problem saving your sorry ass from monsters." Angel said, turning back to face her. Lily sighed.
"Thank you. For the huge save, I'd probably be dead if you hadn't swooped in, blah blah blah." Lily said. "Does this mean you're back?" She asked, hopeful.
"This means, I didn't let you die." He said, and he went back into his cave.