Title: Intertwined
Author: T. C.
Rating: R
Pairing: Willow/Angel
Synopsis: Angel works to help Willow with a strange problem.
Disclaimer: Willow and Angel and other BTVS characters mentioned or
portrayed belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, and
Twentieth Century Fox, but not me.
Spoilers: Always possible that I might mention things that have
happened if I think it pertains to my storyline. Season 5
and 2 are fair game.
***********************************************************************
Part One
Help. She needed help. Willow stumbled through the slick streets of
Los Angeles, hoping that she could find the hotel. Angel was there.
Angel could help her. Willow slipped on the wet concrete of the
sidewalk and bit her bottom lip hard. Blood welled in her mouth and
she sucked greedily at the wound. Tears and the rain obscured her
vision so Willow stopped to wipe at her eyes. She needed to get a
grip. She had no idea how she had even gotten this far. She only
hoped she hadn't hurt someone.
Willow resumed her journey. If she hadn't gotten lost then she should
almost be there. Please let her almost be there. She turned the
corner and there it was. The Hyperion.
*****
It was actually a quiet night. Angel and Wesley sat comfortably
across from each other with their feet up on the coffee table, reading
books that weren't about demons. Cordelia sat at her desk surfing the
internet shopping sites. It would have been a completely normal scene
except that Gunn was polishing his ax. The rain pattered insistently
against the window panes, probably the reason for the lull in business.
The front door crashed open, breaking the calm silence of the room.
Willow burst into the lobby, soaking wet and shivering violently.
"Willow." Cordelia stood up. Being the closest, she immediately
started to cross over to her old friend.
"No," Willow shouted and jumped back, ready to run back out into the
rain. "Don't come near me." Then, to the utter astonishment of three
of the people in the room, Willow vamped. "Stay back. I don't want to
hurt you." Her voice sounded strange coming from her contorted mouth.
"Willow." Angel walked toward her, unafraid of her new status. Her
yellow eyes looked up at him, pleading and afraid. He was going to
stake the vampire who did this to her, after he had tortured him.
Slowly, she sank to the floor and huddled in a ball. "Who did this to
you?"
"Angel. Please help me. I can't...I don't want to hurt anyone." With
a final, violent shudder, Willow passed out and her features settled
back to human.
Now she looked like Willow, their friend. Angel gestured for the
others to stand back as he cautiously approached the prone girl. He
knelt down beside her. Despite Willow's earlier warning and Angel's
caution, Cordelia stepped forward to stand behind him. "She has her
soul still, right? Otherwise she would have killed us or at least
tried to. She wouldn't have warned me to stay back. Angel?"
"She has a soul." A soul as bright as Willow's was unmistakable. He
didn't know what had happened, but Willow's soul was still present and
so were a few other things. Angel reached down and brushed her hair
away from her neck. The red, angry puncture wounds of a vampire stood
out against her pale white skin. Dark blue bruises were starting to
form around them. Angel estimated that she was attacked less than an
hour ago. Why hadn't Willow told him she was coming to L. A.? He
could have protected her. Angel moved past the wound and felt the
side of Willow's neck to confirm what he could clearly hear. "And a
heartbeat. Her skin is warm and she's breathing. Willow isn't dead."
Angel lifted the crumpled girl in his arms. She moaned softly, but
didn't wake up.
"But, how is that possible?" Wesley reached out to validate Angel's
claims. Willow's flesh was chilly, but it was from the cold rain
outside. Already, her skin was warming to room temperature and she
was breathing raggedly.
"I don't know. I'm taking her upstairs." Angel walked to the stairs.
He couldn't think of how it happened or who had attacked Willow right
now. As it was, he had to quell the rage that burst inside him at the
thought of her attacker. At the moment, Willow was the important one
and taking care of her was everything. "Cordelia, shut the door.
Wesley, get some blood from the fridge and warm it for about a minute.
Gunn...bring a stake, but don't use it unless I ask. Please."
Gunn nodded, even though Angel didn't look at him to see if he agreed
with him or not. He had a feeling if he had tried to stake the girl
without Angel's okay, he would be on the wrong end of Angel's fangs,
not to mention Cordelia's wrath. Gunn watched Angel carry the girl
upstairs. Cordelia followed close behind, fussing at them and wiping
the tears from her face. He didn't know the redheaded vampire or
non-vampire - whatever the hell she was - but she was obviously
important to his friends. So important that Angel couldn't even bring
himself to stake her if she turned out to be evil.
"Wesley." Gunn caught the ex-watcher's arm as he passed by him. "Who
is she?"
"Willow Rosenberg. She's from Sunnydale, an old highschool chum of
Cordelia's and the best friend of the Slayer." Wesley carefully
balanced the large glass full of blood as they walked up the stairs.
Spilling it was a distasteful prospect. "She was the one who had
brought the news that Buffy had died."
"Angel's ex-girl." Gunn nodded, understanding things a bit better. She
had looked a little familiar, but the whole vampire thing had thrown
him. "I take it the last time she was here, she wasn't a vampire."
"Heavens, no. Miss Rosenberg joined the Slayer in her fight against
evil. She's actually quite proficient in magics. And according to
Angel, she isn't a vampire now, at least not in the traditional sense
of the word. She is still alive."
"Freaky." They walked into Angel's room. He was sitting on the bed
next to a prone Willow while Cordelia hovered over them anxiously. Gunn
had only seen her this worried when one of them was in danger.
"Maybe it's a spell. You know, like a vampire-for-a-day spell or
something like that... Do they have those?" Cordelia sat on the end of
the bed and then immediately bounced back to her feet again.
"I don't think so. If there was, why would Willow use one?" Angel's
finger glanced over the puncture wound on Willow's neck. "She was
attacked."
"Could it be the result of a botched attempt to bring her across?"
Wesley suggested. He held out the glass of blood. "I've never heard
of it happening."
"Neither have I." Angel accepted the glass. He noticed Willow's nose
twitch and heard a low rumble in her throat as she caught the blood's
scent. "Screwing up something like that usually means the fledgling is
dead. There's no such thing as a half-vampire. At least there wasn't
until now." Willow moaned and fidgeted on the bed. "You guys should
leave us alone...."
"Angel," Cordelia interrupted. She wasn't going to be banished from
the room, not when her friend was in trouble just so Angel could play
white knight. Willow needed to have the familiarity of an old friend.
She needed to see that Cordelia didn't care that she was a vampire,
that she was still her friend. "Willow is my friend too. She needs
my help."
"And you will help her. Later." Angel set the glass on the
night stand. He stood up and gently escorted Cordelia toward the door.
Gunn and Wesley followed them, ready to back Angel up. "Right now
Willow needs to feed and the less humans in the immediate vicinity,
the better."
"She's hungry, Cordelia. We would just be temptation," Wesley added
for emphasis. He and Gunn took over Angel's position by the
distraught girl's side and eased her out of the room, leaving Angel
alone with Willow.
Once the others had left the room, Willow's heart beat slowed. She
had regained consciousness when Cordelia had protested leaving the
room. She was glad that Angel had persuaded her to leave. Willow
felt the bed sag under Angel's weight. His fingers caressed his
cheek. "Willow," he crooned. "Willow, open your eyes. It's okay,
we're alone."
"I can still hear their hearts beating." Willow opened her eyes. It
was a constant drumming in her head that wouldn't stop and made her so
atrociously thirsty.
"You get used to it." Angel smiled at Willow, hoping that she would
smile back. She looked so sad and frightened, but she wasn't alone
anymore. He would take care of her and she needed to know that.
"Trust me, eventually you won't even notice it. Here, sit up." Angel
helped Willow sit up and brought the glass of blood to her lips. The
moment the blood was in her mouth, Willow started to gag, but she
didn't stop drinking. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Angel set the
empty glass back on the night stand and wiped the tears away with his
thumb. "The bathroom is over there. You can take a nice, long, hot
shower and I'll find you some dry clothes. Then you can tell us what
happened, okay?"
All he got was a nod from Willow. She slipped from his bed and
disappeared into the bathroom. Once the shower started, Angel looked
through his closet for something suitable for Willow to wear. He found
a navy silk shirt that would be too long, but if she rolled up the
sleeves it would do. Angel set the shirt on his bed, picked up the
empty glass and left the room. Downstairs, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn
were waiting impatiently.
"Well?" Cordelia pounced on him. "How is she? What happened? Is
she...is she a...is she evil?"
"No, Willow isn't evil, but she is a vampire. She drank the blood,
although she didn't find it very appetizing." Angel rinsed the glass
out. "She's taking a shower. I asked her to explain everything to us
later. Cordy, do you have an extra skirt or something that Willow
could wear?"
"Of course." Cordelia immediately left, glad that she had something to
do that could be considered helping.
"Do you think Mr. Giles and the others know about this?" Wesley
couldn't get the image of Willow's tortured vampire face out of his
mind. And while he had sympathy for the girl, her very existence
intrigued him. His brain literally swam with the possible how's and
why's and he couldn't wait to hear what happened. An alive vampire -
incredible.
"I doubt it and we're not calling them unless Willow wants us to. It's
going to be hard enough for her to deal with everything without having
to worry about what Buffy, Xander, and Giles will think of her." A
part of Angel still remembered and resented how he had been treated by
the slayer, the watcher, and the boy. Xander had only shown him
contempt and hate, Giles had never truly trusted him, and Buffy had
wanted to ignore what he was. He knew it wasn't fair to assume that
they would treat Willow the same way - Xander would certainly never
hate her - but he knew their reactions would be an added burden to
Willow. She must have known it too, because she had come to him for
help. He knew the others would react badly to that as well.
"Didn't you say that your wacked out childe's childe...Spike...was
hanging out with the slayer and her friends?" Gunn asked. "Could it
have been him?"
Angel hadn't thought of Spike. He had gained their trust fighting
Glory by their side. Willow would have trusted him. He could have
gotten close. "If it was, he'll beg me to stake him."
"It wasn't Spike." Willow stood at the bottom of the stairs with
Cordelia at her side. Cordelia placed a comforting and supportive arm
around Willow's shoulders. She was wearing a simple black skirt that
Cordelia kept at the office for audition emergencies and the navy silk
shirt Angel had laid out for her. Her feet were bare and her toes
fidgeted on the floor.
"Would you like something to drink?" Wesley offered without thinking.
His face turned red as soon as he did and he stammered, "Some coffee or
a...a soda, maybe...something refreshing...iced tea or lemonade."
To his relief and everyone else's, Willow smiled and laughed softly.
"Yes, please. I would love some coffee."
"Just one cup. We don't need you on a caffeine high," Cordelia
admonished. She escorted Willow over to the couch. She sat on one
side of her and Angel took his place on her other side. Willow
collected her thoughts while they waited for Wesley to return with her
coffee. It was a confusing story. She wasn't quite sure herself what
had happened.
"I was alone in our dorm room. Tara had a night class, Buffy and Spike
were patrolling, Dawn was at a slumber party, Xander and Anya went to a
movie, and Giles is in England visiting relatives. I had the whole
evening to myself, so I decided to make a nonHellmouth time. I was
watching Con Air...."
"Con Air?" Angel broke in, not because he was unfamiliar with the
movie, but because he was. It didn't seem like a Willow-movie.
"It has John Cusack in it. It's not one of his best movies - that's a
tie between Say Anything and Grosse Pointe Blank - but he is in it.
Anyway, I was watching the movie when the room got all hazy, like the
air had gotten heavier and I felt woozy. There was a tearing sound, a
loud ripping, and this portal opened. It was me...the Vampire Willow
from that other dimension. She was angry, ranting about how we had
sent her back to be dusted, but that she was saved. Someone or
something stopped her from being dusted and taught her how to open
portals so she could get back here. She said she'd been to other
places, had found other versions of us. She didn't say what happened
to them and I don't think I want to know. She attacked me, she was
going to turn me. I couldn't stop her. I knew that, but I didn't
want to be evil. For some reason, I remembered the words to the soul
restoration ritual. I thought it might keep my soul in my body after
I died and was turned, but something weird happened. An incredible,
searing pain burned through my body. I...I screamed and the Vampire me
turned to dust. She just crumbled. Then I passed out." Willow
touched the wounds to her neck. "When I woke up, I felt weird. I had
these memories that weren't mine. When I looked in the mirror my
reflection was blurry and there was this horrible pounding in my head.
It was the heartbeats of the students in their dorms. I wanted...I
could almost taste their blood. I vamped." Willow cut herself off
with a sob.
"This happened in Sunnydale?" Angel cradled Willow in his arms and let
her cry. It didn't make sense, there wouldn't have been enough time
for her to get here from Sunnydale. "How did you get here, Willow?
This wound is fresh, it can't be more than an hour old."
"I don't know. I fainted again when I vamped and when I woke up, I was
in L. A., a couple of blocks away." Willow wiped her tears and edged
herself out of Angel's embrace. Now that her hunger was sated, her
story told, and her fear lessened, being close to Angel brought out
other feelings. She was uncomfortably aware of his body. She wanted
to touch him, smell him, taste him. "I, uh, I've been experimenting
with teleportation spells. I could have used one before I lost
consciousness. I don't remember."
"That's probably it." Angel patted Willow's hand. He was well aware
of the newly erotic sensations he was causing Willow to experience. It
was part of being a vampire, the demons called to each other -
especially powerful ones. He remembered Vampire Willow and some of the
things she had said to him, had suggested that they do together, before
she left. She had a relationship with his double in their dimension -
granted it wasn't a going to dinner and the movies type relationship -
and since Willow seemed to have inherited her demon, she would have
those feelings as well. He pushed aside the memory that he had been
tempted to indulge in some of Vampire Willow's feelings for his double
before they had sent her back to her dimension.
"What's going to happen to me, Angel?"
"I don't know. We'll research this. The restoration spell, dimension
portals, and Vampire Willow's dimension. We'll get as much information
as we can and while we're doing that, I'll help you deal with being a
vampire." To hell with the sexual tension, he needed to hold her.
Angel hugged Willow tightly. "Don't worry, Willow. We'll help you."
"Good." Willow sniffled and snuggled into Angel's arms. "I'd hate it
if Buffy had to stake me."
To be continued....
Author: T. C.
Rating: R
Pairing: Willow/Angel
Synopsis: Angel works to help Willow with a strange problem.
Disclaimer: Willow and Angel and other BTVS characters mentioned or
portrayed belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, and
Twentieth Century Fox, but not me.
Spoilers: Always possible that I might mention things that have
happened if I think it pertains to my storyline. Season 5
and 2 are fair game.
***********************************************************************
Part One
Help. She needed help. Willow stumbled through the slick streets of
Los Angeles, hoping that she could find the hotel. Angel was there.
Angel could help her. Willow slipped on the wet concrete of the
sidewalk and bit her bottom lip hard. Blood welled in her mouth and
she sucked greedily at the wound. Tears and the rain obscured her
vision so Willow stopped to wipe at her eyes. She needed to get a
grip. She had no idea how she had even gotten this far. She only
hoped she hadn't hurt someone.
Willow resumed her journey. If she hadn't gotten lost then she should
almost be there. Please let her almost be there. She turned the
corner and there it was. The Hyperion.
*****
It was actually a quiet night. Angel and Wesley sat comfortably
across from each other with their feet up on the coffee table, reading
books that weren't about demons. Cordelia sat at her desk surfing the
internet shopping sites. It would have been a completely normal scene
except that Gunn was polishing his ax. The rain pattered insistently
against the window panes, probably the reason for the lull in business.
The front door crashed open, breaking the calm silence of the room.
Willow burst into the lobby, soaking wet and shivering violently.
"Willow." Cordelia stood up. Being the closest, she immediately
started to cross over to her old friend.
"No," Willow shouted and jumped back, ready to run back out into the
rain. "Don't come near me." Then, to the utter astonishment of three
of the people in the room, Willow vamped. "Stay back. I don't want to
hurt you." Her voice sounded strange coming from her contorted mouth.
"Willow." Angel walked toward her, unafraid of her new status. Her
yellow eyes looked up at him, pleading and afraid. He was going to
stake the vampire who did this to her, after he had tortured him.
Slowly, she sank to the floor and huddled in a ball. "Who did this to
you?"
"Angel. Please help me. I can't...I don't want to hurt anyone." With
a final, violent shudder, Willow passed out and her features settled
back to human.
Now she looked like Willow, their friend. Angel gestured for the
others to stand back as he cautiously approached the prone girl. He
knelt down beside her. Despite Willow's earlier warning and Angel's
caution, Cordelia stepped forward to stand behind him. "She has her
soul still, right? Otherwise she would have killed us or at least
tried to. She wouldn't have warned me to stay back. Angel?"
"She has a soul." A soul as bright as Willow's was unmistakable. He
didn't know what had happened, but Willow's soul was still present and
so were a few other things. Angel reached down and brushed her hair
away from her neck. The red, angry puncture wounds of a vampire stood
out against her pale white skin. Dark blue bruises were starting to
form around them. Angel estimated that she was attacked less than an
hour ago. Why hadn't Willow told him she was coming to L. A.? He
could have protected her. Angel moved past the wound and felt the
side of Willow's neck to confirm what he could clearly hear. "And a
heartbeat. Her skin is warm and she's breathing. Willow isn't dead."
Angel lifted the crumpled girl in his arms. She moaned softly, but
didn't wake up.
"But, how is that possible?" Wesley reached out to validate Angel's
claims. Willow's flesh was chilly, but it was from the cold rain
outside. Already, her skin was warming to room temperature and she
was breathing raggedly.
"I don't know. I'm taking her upstairs." Angel walked to the stairs.
He couldn't think of how it happened or who had attacked Willow right
now. As it was, he had to quell the rage that burst inside him at the
thought of her attacker. At the moment, Willow was the important one
and taking care of her was everything. "Cordelia, shut the door.
Wesley, get some blood from the fridge and warm it for about a minute.
Gunn...bring a stake, but don't use it unless I ask. Please."
Gunn nodded, even though Angel didn't look at him to see if he agreed
with him or not. He had a feeling if he had tried to stake the girl
without Angel's okay, he would be on the wrong end of Angel's fangs,
not to mention Cordelia's wrath. Gunn watched Angel carry the girl
upstairs. Cordelia followed close behind, fussing at them and wiping
the tears from her face. He didn't know the redheaded vampire or
non-vampire - whatever the hell she was - but she was obviously
important to his friends. So important that Angel couldn't even bring
himself to stake her if she turned out to be evil.
"Wesley." Gunn caught the ex-watcher's arm as he passed by him. "Who
is she?"
"Willow Rosenberg. She's from Sunnydale, an old highschool chum of
Cordelia's and the best friend of the Slayer." Wesley carefully
balanced the large glass full of blood as they walked up the stairs.
Spilling it was a distasteful prospect. "She was the one who had
brought the news that Buffy had died."
"Angel's ex-girl." Gunn nodded, understanding things a bit better. She
had looked a little familiar, but the whole vampire thing had thrown
him. "I take it the last time she was here, she wasn't a vampire."
"Heavens, no. Miss Rosenberg joined the Slayer in her fight against
evil. She's actually quite proficient in magics. And according to
Angel, she isn't a vampire now, at least not in the traditional sense
of the word. She is still alive."
"Freaky." They walked into Angel's room. He was sitting on the bed
next to a prone Willow while Cordelia hovered over them anxiously. Gunn
had only seen her this worried when one of them was in danger.
"Maybe it's a spell. You know, like a vampire-for-a-day spell or
something like that... Do they have those?" Cordelia sat on the end of
the bed and then immediately bounced back to her feet again.
"I don't think so. If there was, why would Willow use one?" Angel's
finger glanced over the puncture wound on Willow's neck. "She was
attacked."
"Could it be the result of a botched attempt to bring her across?"
Wesley suggested. He held out the glass of blood. "I've never heard
of it happening."
"Neither have I." Angel accepted the glass. He noticed Willow's nose
twitch and heard a low rumble in her throat as she caught the blood's
scent. "Screwing up something like that usually means the fledgling is
dead. There's no such thing as a half-vampire. At least there wasn't
until now." Willow moaned and fidgeted on the bed. "You guys should
leave us alone...."
"Angel," Cordelia interrupted. She wasn't going to be banished from
the room, not when her friend was in trouble just so Angel could play
white knight. Willow needed to have the familiarity of an old friend.
She needed to see that Cordelia didn't care that she was a vampire,
that she was still her friend. "Willow is my friend too. She needs
my help."
"And you will help her. Later." Angel set the glass on the
night stand. He stood up and gently escorted Cordelia toward the door.
Gunn and Wesley followed them, ready to back Angel up. "Right now
Willow needs to feed and the less humans in the immediate vicinity,
the better."
"She's hungry, Cordelia. We would just be temptation," Wesley added
for emphasis. He and Gunn took over Angel's position by the
distraught girl's side and eased her out of the room, leaving Angel
alone with Willow.
Once the others had left the room, Willow's heart beat slowed. She
had regained consciousness when Cordelia had protested leaving the
room. She was glad that Angel had persuaded her to leave. Willow
felt the bed sag under Angel's weight. His fingers caressed his
cheek. "Willow," he crooned. "Willow, open your eyes. It's okay,
we're alone."
"I can still hear their hearts beating." Willow opened her eyes. It
was a constant drumming in her head that wouldn't stop and made her so
atrociously thirsty.
"You get used to it." Angel smiled at Willow, hoping that she would
smile back. She looked so sad and frightened, but she wasn't alone
anymore. He would take care of her and she needed to know that.
"Trust me, eventually you won't even notice it. Here, sit up." Angel
helped Willow sit up and brought the glass of blood to her lips. The
moment the blood was in her mouth, Willow started to gag, but she
didn't stop drinking. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Angel set the
empty glass back on the night stand and wiped the tears away with his
thumb. "The bathroom is over there. You can take a nice, long, hot
shower and I'll find you some dry clothes. Then you can tell us what
happened, okay?"
All he got was a nod from Willow. She slipped from his bed and
disappeared into the bathroom. Once the shower started, Angel looked
through his closet for something suitable for Willow to wear. He found
a navy silk shirt that would be too long, but if she rolled up the
sleeves it would do. Angel set the shirt on his bed, picked up the
empty glass and left the room. Downstairs, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn
were waiting impatiently.
"Well?" Cordelia pounced on him. "How is she? What happened? Is
she...is she a...is she evil?"
"No, Willow isn't evil, but she is a vampire. She drank the blood,
although she didn't find it very appetizing." Angel rinsed the glass
out. "She's taking a shower. I asked her to explain everything to us
later. Cordy, do you have an extra skirt or something that Willow
could wear?"
"Of course." Cordelia immediately left, glad that she had something to
do that could be considered helping.
"Do you think Mr. Giles and the others know about this?" Wesley
couldn't get the image of Willow's tortured vampire face out of his
mind. And while he had sympathy for the girl, her very existence
intrigued him. His brain literally swam with the possible how's and
why's and he couldn't wait to hear what happened. An alive vampire -
incredible.
"I doubt it and we're not calling them unless Willow wants us to. It's
going to be hard enough for her to deal with everything without having
to worry about what Buffy, Xander, and Giles will think of her." A
part of Angel still remembered and resented how he had been treated by
the slayer, the watcher, and the boy. Xander had only shown him
contempt and hate, Giles had never truly trusted him, and Buffy had
wanted to ignore what he was. He knew it wasn't fair to assume that
they would treat Willow the same way - Xander would certainly never
hate her - but he knew their reactions would be an added burden to
Willow. She must have known it too, because she had come to him for
help. He knew the others would react badly to that as well.
"Didn't you say that your wacked out childe's childe...Spike...was
hanging out with the slayer and her friends?" Gunn asked. "Could it
have been him?"
Angel hadn't thought of Spike. He had gained their trust fighting
Glory by their side. Willow would have trusted him. He could have
gotten close. "If it was, he'll beg me to stake him."
"It wasn't Spike." Willow stood at the bottom of the stairs with
Cordelia at her side. Cordelia placed a comforting and supportive arm
around Willow's shoulders. She was wearing a simple black skirt that
Cordelia kept at the office for audition emergencies and the navy silk
shirt Angel had laid out for her. Her feet were bare and her toes
fidgeted on the floor.
"Would you like something to drink?" Wesley offered without thinking.
His face turned red as soon as he did and he stammered, "Some coffee or
a...a soda, maybe...something refreshing...iced tea or lemonade."
To his relief and everyone else's, Willow smiled and laughed softly.
"Yes, please. I would love some coffee."
"Just one cup. We don't need you on a caffeine high," Cordelia
admonished. She escorted Willow over to the couch. She sat on one
side of her and Angel took his place on her other side. Willow
collected her thoughts while they waited for Wesley to return with her
coffee. It was a confusing story. She wasn't quite sure herself what
had happened.
"I was alone in our dorm room. Tara had a night class, Buffy and Spike
were patrolling, Dawn was at a slumber party, Xander and Anya went to a
movie, and Giles is in England visiting relatives. I had the whole
evening to myself, so I decided to make a nonHellmouth time. I was
watching Con Air...."
"Con Air?" Angel broke in, not because he was unfamiliar with the
movie, but because he was. It didn't seem like a Willow-movie.
"It has John Cusack in it. It's not one of his best movies - that's a
tie between Say Anything and Grosse Pointe Blank - but he is in it.
Anyway, I was watching the movie when the room got all hazy, like the
air had gotten heavier and I felt woozy. There was a tearing sound, a
loud ripping, and this portal opened. It was me...the Vampire Willow
from that other dimension. She was angry, ranting about how we had
sent her back to be dusted, but that she was saved. Someone or
something stopped her from being dusted and taught her how to open
portals so she could get back here. She said she'd been to other
places, had found other versions of us. She didn't say what happened
to them and I don't think I want to know. She attacked me, she was
going to turn me. I couldn't stop her. I knew that, but I didn't
want to be evil. For some reason, I remembered the words to the soul
restoration ritual. I thought it might keep my soul in my body after
I died and was turned, but something weird happened. An incredible,
searing pain burned through my body. I...I screamed and the Vampire me
turned to dust. She just crumbled. Then I passed out." Willow
touched the wounds to her neck. "When I woke up, I felt weird. I had
these memories that weren't mine. When I looked in the mirror my
reflection was blurry and there was this horrible pounding in my head.
It was the heartbeats of the students in their dorms. I wanted...I
could almost taste their blood. I vamped." Willow cut herself off
with a sob.
"This happened in Sunnydale?" Angel cradled Willow in his arms and let
her cry. It didn't make sense, there wouldn't have been enough time
for her to get here from Sunnydale. "How did you get here, Willow?
This wound is fresh, it can't be more than an hour old."
"I don't know. I fainted again when I vamped and when I woke up, I was
in L. A., a couple of blocks away." Willow wiped her tears and edged
herself out of Angel's embrace. Now that her hunger was sated, her
story told, and her fear lessened, being close to Angel brought out
other feelings. She was uncomfortably aware of his body. She wanted
to touch him, smell him, taste him. "I, uh, I've been experimenting
with teleportation spells. I could have used one before I lost
consciousness. I don't remember."
"That's probably it." Angel patted Willow's hand. He was well aware
of the newly erotic sensations he was causing Willow to experience. It
was part of being a vampire, the demons called to each other -
especially powerful ones. He remembered Vampire Willow and some of the
things she had said to him, had suggested that they do together, before
she left. She had a relationship with his double in their dimension -
granted it wasn't a going to dinner and the movies type relationship -
and since Willow seemed to have inherited her demon, she would have
those feelings as well. He pushed aside the memory that he had been
tempted to indulge in some of Vampire Willow's feelings for his double
before they had sent her back to her dimension.
"What's going to happen to me, Angel?"
"I don't know. We'll research this. The restoration spell, dimension
portals, and Vampire Willow's dimension. We'll get as much information
as we can and while we're doing that, I'll help you deal with being a
vampire." To hell with the sexual tension, he needed to hold her.
Angel hugged Willow tightly. "Don't worry, Willow. We'll help you."
"Good." Willow sniffled and snuggled into Angel's arms. "I'd hate it
if Buffy had to stake me."
To be continued....