Read: Okay, if I owned any of the characters on Angel, do you seriously
think I'd be writing fanfics instead of flirting up a storm with James
Marsters?
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Clara was walking down a dark alley, fingering the stake in her hand almost lovingly as she honed her powers for the forces of evil. Suddenly, she heard the sound she had been waiting for. Footsteps trying to match hers. They stopped only a second too late and Clara heard them. One second away from certain death. She turned around, her duster flaring, dark black hair fanning out in the air.
"Aw, look at the cute little vampire about to pick on a poor, defenseless little girl," she cooed, and walked toward the vampire, stake in hand. She ran at him and the vampire raised a hand and stopped her. She beat him across the head with her Doc Marten clad feet and he staggered backward. She plunged the stake into his heart and down he went poofing into dust. Clara smiled cynically and blew a hair out of her mouth.
"You should have listened to your mother," she told the dust lying in the middle of the alley. "Strange things can happen at night, especially in L.A." She shook off her duster and went back on her way until once again she heard the uneven footsteps behind her. She sighed, shoulders slumping. Two in one night? Not only did she want to get home before the last episode of Friends came on; she also wanted to dip her feet into the hot tub of water she'd fill as soon as she got home. The Doc Martens might look cool, but they felt anything other than that.
"Hello?" she called, when she turned around. She had been expecting to see a rather menacing looking vampire, a sardonic smile across her lips. Instead she saw nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Hmm, wants to be sneaky? "Hellooo," she called again, stealthily slipping her stake into her pocket. No need for this evil being to know she wasn't some helpless little girl who put on too much hair gel.
"Hello," said another vampire, walking around the corner, looking a little menacing, and a sardonic smile crossing his lips. "What are you doing out at night in L.A.? Especially in the middle of a dark and deserted alley?" His hair was brown and his eyes were the kind you expected on a puppy dog, not a soul-less being. His voice was also calming, soothing also not what you expected to hear from something that killed and tortured for pleasure.
"I don't know, what are you doing?" Clara answered the question with a question. Angel felt a little flustered. He wasn't used to girls not being scared of him in the middle of dark alleys. Not that he wanted them to be scared, he just enjoyed the occasional-cat and-mouse game before giving himself up and telling them what he truly was. Relieved some of the pressure from having to deal with Spike.
"I asked first," he said, taking another step closer. Clara looked at him and slowly began to approach him. Her fingers ran over the stake in her pocket before she whipped it out and held the point right over his chest. Angel gasped, unable to stop him.
"Gimme a reason and I swear I will," she said the tip of the stake digging in a little too far for comfort. Angel took a step back and held up his hands in defeat.
"Okay, okay. Don't stake I'm good. I won't uh...ask you things anymore."
"Good," said Clara testily, putting the stake back into her purse and flicking back her hair. "And, not that it's any of your business, but I'm seventeen."
"What?" Angel asked, taking another step back in surprise. "What?" he asked again, utterly confused.
"You were thinking it. You were like, How old is this chic to be messing around with guys in an alley? So, I'm seventeen."
Angel's mouth dropped open momentarily, then quickly he shut it, then opened it again to ask, "So you're telepathic."
"And I have TK."
"Which is?"
"God! How long has it been since you've been with real people? Oh, you're a vampire."
"Stop looking in my head!"
Clara laughed a hard and bitter laugh that almost made Angel feel sorry for her. All of a sudden, Clara's bitter laughter stopped and she wrinkled her nose. "Ew, don't feel pity for me. Oh, gross, I hate pity."
"I thought I told you to stay out of my head."
"I was picking up on your emotions. You know, for a vampire you're pretty emotional."
"Well I have a -"
"Soul, yeah, yeah I know. I saw that as soon as I started digging around the first time." At Angel's incredulous look, the bitter laughter rolled out of Clara's rosebud mouth again. "Don't worry, I'm stopping now. I know people don't always appreciate me lookin' around where I'm not supposed to.
"So anyway, you never answered my question. What're you doing here and why are you antagonizing me when really you should know better."
"If you're going to play that game," said Angel, "Then really I asked you first and you should be the one to answer my question."
Clara sighed. This one had so much to learn. "Yeah well," she said and looked him straight in the eyes, "I'm the one with TK."
Angel began having the weirdest floating sensation. It was like when you were so scared that you felt that part of you was leaving your body. He looked down to see if he was having one of those moments, then realized he was six inches off the ground. He looked down at Clara and saw that her face was beginning to grow a little pale from the effort of keeping him up there. Then she began to laugh.
"I don't see what's so funny," growled Angel, twisting and turning around, trying to find a way down. He kept going higher and higher until he was about ten feet off the ground and Clara was down there staring up at him and laughing maniacally. The top of his head was almost level with the top of the low-built clubs around the alley. Clara just kept laughing and laughing and Angel almost began to feel scared. When he saw the fact that she was getting little red spots on her face from keeping him up so high for so long, he thought for sure she'd let him down now, or at least stop lifting. But what teenager ever does something for their own good?
"If only you could see your face right now Angel," she said loudly enough for him to hear now. It was now as if she were talking to a twenty- one feet tall giant. "And I think running away from home is something this teenager did something for her own good." She started laughing again, then in a sudden burst of energy that made her eyes screw up and her fists clench and tiny beads of sweat break out on her forehead, she lifted him up another twenty feet.
Now he was at least ten feet above all the buildings on this run-down street and could see for three blocks. Clara was far, far down below and the atmosphere was almost beginning to get a little colder. His feet were swaying much like someone's feet would swing if they had been hung. The idea made him shudder, and from the immediate and sickening swaying that began after that, he immediately regretted it.
"Wanna tell me why you take pleasure in annoying young girls in dark alleys now Angel?!" Clara called up to him.
"I saw you staking that other vampire the other night," Angel called down, trying to fight back. But even with sweat beginning to pool on her face and bright, feverish red spots on her cheeks, Clara was still the strongest person with TK in L.A., perhaps even in the whole state. Maybe even the country. "I just came to see what you would do to me."
Immediately he began to come to the ground. A little too fast for his comfort, he landed hard on his ankles. They immediately buckled and he fell over. He felt invisible hands on his back and he was up again. "Thanks," he said, rubbing his neck even though it didn't hurt. Old habits die hard.
"Well, if that's all," she said, and began to walk out of the alley like she had never lifted him thirty feet up into the air. He reached out a hand and stopped her.
"You got a job?" he asked her.
She turned to look at him, a confused look on her face. Then apprehension dawned on her pretty face and she said, "Oh, I dunno about working for you Angel."
Angel dismissed the fact that she had barged into his mind uninvited again. "Really Clara, we could use someone like you. You're the strongest person I've ever met with TK, granted, the only person I've ever met, but if you could hold me, a century and a half or so year old vampire up in the air like that, then you definitely deserve a place at Wolfram and Hart."
"I dunno," she said, shifting her weight to her right side and crossing her arms. "I'll think about it." Then she walked off. Angel leaned against the alley wall and watched her. The girl was just offered a place at the very well known business that was also known for its huge paychecks, and was also offered this by the head of the L.A. branch, and still she tells him she'll think about it. Angel shook his head and went up to his apartment. She'd be in his office the next morning, practically begging for the job. Angel was sure of it.
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Clara was walking down a dark alley, fingering the stake in her hand almost lovingly as she honed her powers for the forces of evil. Suddenly, she heard the sound she had been waiting for. Footsteps trying to match hers. They stopped only a second too late and Clara heard them. One second away from certain death. She turned around, her duster flaring, dark black hair fanning out in the air.
"Aw, look at the cute little vampire about to pick on a poor, defenseless little girl," she cooed, and walked toward the vampire, stake in hand. She ran at him and the vampire raised a hand and stopped her. She beat him across the head with her Doc Marten clad feet and he staggered backward. She plunged the stake into his heart and down he went poofing into dust. Clara smiled cynically and blew a hair out of her mouth.
"You should have listened to your mother," she told the dust lying in the middle of the alley. "Strange things can happen at night, especially in L.A." She shook off her duster and went back on her way until once again she heard the uneven footsteps behind her. She sighed, shoulders slumping. Two in one night? Not only did she want to get home before the last episode of Friends came on; she also wanted to dip her feet into the hot tub of water she'd fill as soon as she got home. The Doc Martens might look cool, but they felt anything other than that.
"Hello?" she called, when she turned around. She had been expecting to see a rather menacing looking vampire, a sardonic smile across her lips. Instead she saw nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Hmm, wants to be sneaky? "Hellooo," she called again, stealthily slipping her stake into her pocket. No need for this evil being to know she wasn't some helpless little girl who put on too much hair gel.
"Hello," said another vampire, walking around the corner, looking a little menacing, and a sardonic smile crossing his lips. "What are you doing out at night in L.A.? Especially in the middle of a dark and deserted alley?" His hair was brown and his eyes were the kind you expected on a puppy dog, not a soul-less being. His voice was also calming, soothing also not what you expected to hear from something that killed and tortured for pleasure.
"I don't know, what are you doing?" Clara answered the question with a question. Angel felt a little flustered. He wasn't used to girls not being scared of him in the middle of dark alleys. Not that he wanted them to be scared, he just enjoyed the occasional-cat and-mouse game before giving himself up and telling them what he truly was. Relieved some of the pressure from having to deal with Spike.
"I asked first," he said, taking another step closer. Clara looked at him and slowly began to approach him. Her fingers ran over the stake in her pocket before she whipped it out and held the point right over his chest. Angel gasped, unable to stop him.
"Gimme a reason and I swear I will," she said the tip of the stake digging in a little too far for comfort. Angel took a step back and held up his hands in defeat.
"Okay, okay. Don't stake I'm good. I won't uh...ask you things anymore."
"Good," said Clara testily, putting the stake back into her purse and flicking back her hair. "And, not that it's any of your business, but I'm seventeen."
"What?" Angel asked, taking another step back in surprise. "What?" he asked again, utterly confused.
"You were thinking it. You were like, How old is this chic to be messing around with guys in an alley? So, I'm seventeen."
Angel's mouth dropped open momentarily, then quickly he shut it, then opened it again to ask, "So you're telepathic."
"And I have TK."
"Which is?"
"God! How long has it been since you've been with real people? Oh, you're a vampire."
"Stop looking in my head!"
Clara laughed a hard and bitter laugh that almost made Angel feel sorry for her. All of a sudden, Clara's bitter laughter stopped and she wrinkled her nose. "Ew, don't feel pity for me. Oh, gross, I hate pity."
"I thought I told you to stay out of my head."
"I was picking up on your emotions. You know, for a vampire you're pretty emotional."
"Well I have a -"
"Soul, yeah, yeah I know. I saw that as soon as I started digging around the first time." At Angel's incredulous look, the bitter laughter rolled out of Clara's rosebud mouth again. "Don't worry, I'm stopping now. I know people don't always appreciate me lookin' around where I'm not supposed to.
"So anyway, you never answered my question. What're you doing here and why are you antagonizing me when really you should know better."
"If you're going to play that game," said Angel, "Then really I asked you first and you should be the one to answer my question."
Clara sighed. This one had so much to learn. "Yeah well," she said and looked him straight in the eyes, "I'm the one with TK."
Angel began having the weirdest floating sensation. It was like when you were so scared that you felt that part of you was leaving your body. He looked down to see if he was having one of those moments, then realized he was six inches off the ground. He looked down at Clara and saw that her face was beginning to grow a little pale from the effort of keeping him up there. Then she began to laugh.
"I don't see what's so funny," growled Angel, twisting and turning around, trying to find a way down. He kept going higher and higher until he was about ten feet off the ground and Clara was down there staring up at him and laughing maniacally. The top of his head was almost level with the top of the low-built clubs around the alley. Clara just kept laughing and laughing and Angel almost began to feel scared. When he saw the fact that she was getting little red spots on her face from keeping him up so high for so long, he thought for sure she'd let him down now, or at least stop lifting. But what teenager ever does something for their own good?
"If only you could see your face right now Angel," she said loudly enough for him to hear now. It was now as if she were talking to a twenty- one feet tall giant. "And I think running away from home is something this teenager did something for her own good." She started laughing again, then in a sudden burst of energy that made her eyes screw up and her fists clench and tiny beads of sweat break out on her forehead, she lifted him up another twenty feet.
Now he was at least ten feet above all the buildings on this run-down street and could see for three blocks. Clara was far, far down below and the atmosphere was almost beginning to get a little colder. His feet were swaying much like someone's feet would swing if they had been hung. The idea made him shudder, and from the immediate and sickening swaying that began after that, he immediately regretted it.
"Wanna tell me why you take pleasure in annoying young girls in dark alleys now Angel?!" Clara called up to him.
"I saw you staking that other vampire the other night," Angel called down, trying to fight back. But even with sweat beginning to pool on her face and bright, feverish red spots on her cheeks, Clara was still the strongest person with TK in L.A., perhaps even in the whole state. Maybe even the country. "I just came to see what you would do to me."
Immediately he began to come to the ground. A little too fast for his comfort, he landed hard on his ankles. They immediately buckled and he fell over. He felt invisible hands on his back and he was up again. "Thanks," he said, rubbing his neck even though it didn't hurt. Old habits die hard.
"Well, if that's all," she said, and began to walk out of the alley like she had never lifted him thirty feet up into the air. He reached out a hand and stopped her.
"You got a job?" he asked her.
She turned to look at him, a confused look on her face. Then apprehension dawned on her pretty face and she said, "Oh, I dunno about working for you Angel."
Angel dismissed the fact that she had barged into his mind uninvited again. "Really Clara, we could use someone like you. You're the strongest person I've ever met with TK, granted, the only person I've ever met, but if you could hold me, a century and a half or so year old vampire up in the air like that, then you definitely deserve a place at Wolfram and Hart."
"I dunno," she said, shifting her weight to her right side and crossing her arms. "I'll think about it." Then she walked off. Angel leaned against the alley wall and watched her. The girl was just offered a place at the very well known business that was also known for its huge paychecks, and was also offered this by the head of the L.A. branch, and still she tells him she'll think about it. Angel shook his head and went up to his apartment. She'd be in his office the next morning, practically begging for the job. Angel was sure of it.