AUTHOR: Kelso
RATING: PG-13 for language, sexual situations
SPOILERS: "Eternity" (for "Angel"); and any of "Buffy" through "Who Are You?" is fair game, particularly season 4 episodes.
FEEDBACK: please! Send to kelso28@excite.com
SUMMARY: Set in season 4. Pretending to be Angel, Angelus returns to Sunnydale to seek revenge on Buffy and the gang.
DISTRIBUTION: anywhere
WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/kelso28a/
DISCLAIMER: "Buffy" and "Angel" characters belong to Joss Whedon.
NOTES: 1-Set in "Buffy" S4/"Angel" S1 beginning with just before Angelus gets loose in "Eternity." Assume that he retains control even after the effects of the drug wear off. Although this story is set in season 4 of "Buffy," I am ignoring certain events that occurred. So, status is: Buffy and Willow are attending UC Sunnydale, while Xander is not. Oz left town, and the Willow/Tara and Xander/Anya relationships developed as seen on the show. Spike never returned; Faith didn't come out of her coma. Buffy knows Riley is a member of the Initiative, he knows she's the Slayer, but Adam doesn't exist. Buffy and Riley are dating but have not slept together yet.
2-Riley fans may want to avoid this story. Angelus DOES NOT like Riley (do you really think he would?). Oh, heck, in this story, he doesn't much like *anyone*, except himself.
3-Thanks to Sky and SpikeFan for beta reading.
Demon Bait 1/9
Angelus was one bored, frustrated demon. Every other demon that had ever inherited a body seemed to have been able to live in it without inside interference. Like, say, from a pesky soul. But not only had *his* body's soul come back to wrest control twice, it was surely the most stodgy, dull soul in all of history. Angelus had gotten to live every normal vampire's dream and go to hell, but he hadn't been able to enjoy the experience because Angel had been in command the entire time.
Tonight, Angel was conferring with some out-of-work actress who needed his help. Angelus had resigned himself to another night of excruciating boredom and good deeds, until he realized the bimbo had just slipped Angel a mickey: a drug that produced feelings of bliss. Here was his long-awaited chance to escape!
Angelus blindly pushed forward, eager to emerge. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to the surface. Then, with one last push, he broke through, back in command. He violently shook his head. Man, it felt good to be free. He could feel the soul there, somewhere inside of him, but it was trapped just like he had been and exerted no influence. His gaze settled on the face of the idiot who had released him: Rebecca Lowell. She looked enthralled and a little nervous. Well, he would just have to change that expression. He wanted her to look terrified.
"Thanks, Rebecca," Angelus said, morphing into his true face. "You want to know what I did to the last fool who brought me back? I terrorized her for months. I stalked her and her friends. I killed her teacher. I tried to bring hell on earth. And I was just getting warmed up. You know what I wanna do to *you*?"
He strolled toward her, and that was when the stupid bitch finally figured out she should be afraid. She whirled and ran to the elevator to frantically jab at the call button. As Angelus slunk closer, the door slid open and Rebecca lunged forward, out of his reach. *Really* out of his reach, as it turned out, since she fell down the elevator shaft, broke her neck, and promptly expired.
'Oh, well,' Angelus thought. It was what he deserved for playing with his food. And it wasn't like the twit hadn't been asking for it, although he would have preferred to have done the honors himself. Still, it would be a shame to let all that delicious blood go to waste. He lithely leaped down and gathered up the body, positioning his fangs at the jugular to enjoy his first good drink in years.
Finished, Angelus absently licked a stray smear of blood from his lips and pondered what to do with his newfound freedom. Maim, destroy, and kill, naturally, but where to start?
It didn't take him long to think of the obvious answer: Sunnydale. After all, he had some serious unfinished business there. He was going to get his revenge on the Slayer and her friends.
Angelus quickly decided on a general plan of action. He would infiltrate the group, pretend to be their precious Angel, and then, at the moment they least expected it, he would turn on them. He could hardly wait to see the tormented look on Buffy's face.
Buffy. Angelus mused on her for a moment. He hated her, and he really hated her name. It made her sound like a cocker spaniel. Angelus hated cocker spaniels, too, dating back to the night one bit him on the ankle. He had killed it and drunk it and after all that trouble it hadn't even tasted good.
Nevertheless, he couldn't help feeling a grudging respect for Buffy's abilities as the Slayer. True, she'd wimped out on several opportunities to finish him off, but she'd fought him to a standstill during Acathla's opening. Then again, he'd hardly been at his best at the time, courtesy of good old Spike whacking him over the head a dozen or so times with a very heavy, very metal andiron.
He would just have to prove his superiority this time around. Mentally, there was no question he was more than a match for Buffy. Physically, the contest was closer. But ultimately, nine times out of ten in an unfair fight, Angelus was confident he would emerge triumphant.
He shook himself out of his reverie. He was wasting the best hours of the night, and he had a lot to do. Such as dispose of Rebecca's body...empty refrigerator and dump disgusting animal blood down the drain...pack the tiny fraction of Angel's wardrobe he could stomach wearing...mentally consign the remainder of said wardrobe to Goodwill--or, rather, the fiery pits of hell, since no self-respecting evil demon would ever donate to charity...
The phone trilled as he moved on to his final task. Angelus allowed the answering machine to pick up and listened to Cordelia's whiny voice as she left a message. "Hey, Angel. Are you sure you know how to work this machine right? I hope so, 'cause it's really, really important for business...anyway, I was just checking. Bye!"
Angelus paused in the middle of trashing Angel's collection of Barry Manilow records. Cordelia posed a problem. More specifically, Cordelia's visions did. What if she had one that warned of his reemergence, and she tipped off the Slayerettes? The only way to guarantee she wouldn't was to kill her. Angelus liked that idea. Cordelia pissed him off in a major way. Only Angel would hire a hack actress who couldn't act as a secretary who couldn't type, couldn't file, and probably couldn't find her ass with her own hands.
Unfortunately, killing Cordelia was not a viable option. Wesley couldn't help noticing her absence. Of course, he could kill Wesley, too, but the more bodies he piled up, the greater the risk of his being unmasked. And Angelus didn't want that to happen until he was good and ready. He was a vampire with a plan.
No, much as the thought revolted him, he had to allow Cordelia and Wesley to live. Just for a little while longer, Angelus promised himself. After he finished his fun in Sunnydale, he'd return and tie up those little loose ends. So vowing, Angelus went off to feed a plausible cover story to his gullible coworkers.
TBC
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